I've been doing a lot of thinking since the shooting at VA Tech. Staying out of the gun debate, because that's just a lightning rod, I have a different suggestion: I think its time that we teach our kids survival tactics on top of how to balance a checkbook and how not get pregnant, etc. Times have changed. So must our appreciation of the danger.
This sort of re-evaluation happened in the airline industry after 9/11. Passenger tactics are no longer passive. Heaven help someone who tries to hijack a plane nowadays. Though it sincerely bums me to think we have to teach our kids how to survive some madman/madmen bent on body count, that's the way it is.
That means we need to rethink how they might respond to such a threat. Certainly I don't expect kids or teachers to play Rambo, but there might be some way to mitigate the death toll if we had a better idea of how to react than duck and cover. Such "adverse situation" training may seem bloody minded, but if it gives the kids a chance to survive until the cops get to a scene, then it's worth it.
That being said, I do not recommend the following stupid scenario:
Tennessee Teachers Stage Fake Gunman Attack
Talk about dumb.
Survival skills are not just for the classroom, they're for a number of ugly situations throughout life. Just like rape prevention, having a clue how to react in a bad situation can make an enormous difference. Until we find how to make it a less violent and dangerous world, we're shortchanging our youth by not giving them the skills to survive.
So what are your thoughts?
1 comment:
Hi Jana,
I agree with what you're saying here. I work less than five minutes from where the shootings took place. It's taken some time to get passed it, but eventually things will come back to normal. But yes, kids need to learn to survive and not just be clay pigeons for some goon who's looking to make a name for his tombstone. All of us for that matter should learn how to survive...it's getting tough out there folks.
Steven
Post a Comment