Normally, this blog is to showcase my creative side. I post pics of t-shirts and onesies that I design. I post recipes that I love. I try to be funny and cute.
But lately, the world we live in is not funny or cute. Since the horrific crimes that happened last week in Florida, many people have asked me what I think should happen in our schools. I am a much better writer than a speaker so here is what I really think.
On September 11, many years ago, my viewpoint about teaching forever changed. On that day, I quickly discovered that I was not only a teacher of reading, writing, and math, but that I was a protector of every little life sitting before me. My job was not only to make sure my students were ready to be successful in this crazy world of ours, but my job was to make sure that each child grew up to be a part of this world.
The school year after this fateful day, I remember having one of our first lock down drills. I was teaching first grade at the time and my students were terrified. Imagine telling 30 six and seven year olds that they had to sit in a corner, in the dark, while you locked the door and huddled quietly with them. Someone would come and rattle our door to make sure it was locked and we had to just sit in silence. While this is a common practice today, it was very new then. After our lock down practice, one of my girls was in tears. She asked me, "What if the bad guys get through the door?" I looked at her and said, "Look at Ms. Hanson. Am I little? Or am I big?' To a small six year old, my nearly 6 foot frame (minus a few inches) looks really tall. She said, "You are big." I agreed with her and I assured her that NO ONE would ever get past me to get to them. I would always protect them. No one would ever hurt them when they were with me. The relief that spread over their faces was priceless and I still see their little heads agreeing with me as they realized that I would always save them, no matter what.
All of these years later, we still practice lock downs on a regular basis. They have become as normal as fire drills.
When something horrific like Sandy Hook or now Marjory Stoneman Douglas happens, my first thoughts are complete terror for those students and teachers. When I hear the names and see the faces of those who died, I tear up imagining the fear they felt. Then we hear about the heroic teachers who tried to save lives - the young teacher who hid students in a closet and sacrificed her own life. The teacher who unlocked his door to save more students and ended up dying for it. And all I can think of is, of course, I would do that exact same thing. Without hesitation. I do not teach for the money. No one that really loves teaching teaches for the money. I just got my latest contract - for my 22nd year of teaching - and I would be ashamed to show anyone what my yearly salary is. It's laughable. Our society places teachers on a pedestal whenever it is a news story or whenever they want to tug at some heart strings, but really, we are not held in high regard when it comes to our worth.
After we hear about the victims and the heroes, we always are forced to learn about the killer. We hear his/her name over and over again. But, we also hear about his background and none of it is shocking to me. Family deaths, horrific childhoods, troubles in school, troubles with friends, antisocial behavior, weird Instagram posts, and the list goes on and on and on.
We wonder how this one slipped through the cracks. I will tell you how. In our schools, we are cutting counselors and social workers because we just do not have the funds anymore. Our class sizes are huge - imagine having 32 or more first graders sitting in front of you. Or even scarier, imagine having 40 or more junior high students sitting in front of you. Each one coming with their own baggage, each one having stories to tell you and needing your time and energy. Many students are coming to school needing love and attention that they are not getting at home. Spoiler alert - not all parents are great. These students need someone to talk to but, oh, that's right, we don't have anyone for them to talk to anymore.
Our school district is cutting behavior specialists to pay for a minimum wage hike. Our district has to come up with over a million dollars to do this because the voters of Arizona passed a law. So the person who is most involved with those students who exhibit erratic behavior is getting fired so that we can pay other people more. While I think all of our staff is important, I also believe that someone who works with behavior issues is extremely valuable. Especially today. Especially with everything that is happening in our city. Our state. Our country.
Children today are growing up in a world where changing your image on social media is the norm. Posting a picture to get enough likes is how you determine your self-worth. And we wonder why our children have self-esteem issues and why they shut down and why they act out. Our children are being taught to never accept no as an answer. When they do not like what they hear, they act out until they get their way. Now, I am not a parent, so I probably have no business saying this, but we are creating a generation of selfish children who do not know right from wrong. And we wonder why bad things are happening.
Now, I'm not about to get into a huge debate about guns. I grew up around guns. I was terrified of them when I was little. But then, I grew up, and I learned how guns were supposed to be stored and used. I have dated several guys who always had guns in their cars and I was never scared to be in them. While saying this, I do believe that some guns need to be banned. No one can convince me that these machine gun rifles are necessary for any civilian to have. It's absurd.
Finally, our President has made the suggestion that we, as teachers, need to be armed and carry guns. Teachers currently pay for their own school supplies. We pay for our Master's degrees that we have to get in order to keep teaching. I have no doubt that we would have to pay for these guns, the classes that go with them, and anything else it takes to be a responsible gun owner.
But the cost of a gun is not my issue. When did becoming a teacher also mean that I get to be a police officer or the member of the military? I do not have the right to tell a parent to move their car out of a no parking spot but I would suddenly have the right to carry a gun into a school. Are you kidding me?
Have you ever been in a classroom? What are the chances that this gun would get into the wrong hands? The news story would be of an irresponsible teacher that could not handle her class. I have worked with a LOT of teachers and I honestly, would trust very few with carrying a gun around a school campus. Some teachers have trouble working a laminating machine. Can you imagine them trying to fire a gun in a stressful, life saving situation? I cannot imagine anything good happening from that.
So, here is my long answer to a short question. Should we arm teachers? My simple answer is no. I love the current posts and memes about arming schools with counselors and social workers and qualified teachers who can listen to our students and give them the attention and love that they really need. This is what our schools need. This is what our nation needs.
This teacher will never carry a gun into a classroom. But this teacher will protect every student who walks through her door.
