Guns in Schools

Last week I heard on the radio that two states are considering allowing teachers to carry, hold, possess, use guns in schools. Something about improving the safety of the kids. I was a teacher and still consider myself a teacher. I come from a family of teachers, and I wonder how this even came up. Oxymoronic for multiple reasons...

1. I remember some days when I wanted to shake a child (middle school...lovingly, in as much of a hug as possible ;) ). I also remember how crazy the day is for teachers who don't sit down all day, and continuously misplace their water bottles. Unless the teacher wears a holster for the gun, you run the risk of guns being misplaced or misprioritized. If the teacher has to worry about keeping up with his or her piece, then something else might not be prioritized. Like teaching.
2. Secondly, if the gun is supposed to protect the kids, that is telling kids that guns are safety measures and conflicts with the anti-violence and peer mediation training that most schools have in place. If the teacher needs a gun, then that undermines the confidence the kids have in the adults' ability to protect them. It could start a trickle down effect of kids needing to go get guns so they feel safe. And kids can get guns. Teachers will have licenses. Kids won't.
   
3. One of the things that teachers are supposed to do is to protect children to the best of their ability. I'm not saying they should be Secret Service and risk their lives for them, but...asking a teacher to shoot a student to protect others is going to be hard. Teachers are already expected to break up fights that put them at physical risk. Now you want them to carry a gun and shoot or be shot at when there is gun conflict. What kind of liability is that when you shoot the wrong kid? (We already sometimes blame the wrong kid for throwing paper in the class, and apology and a homework pass assuage that offense.) What protection is there?
4. I stood at the altar Sunday morning and noticed a little boy who wanted prayer but was afraid to come to the altar. During the offering, I mentioned it to grandma, and she said he just didn't want to come forward. So, I went to him and asked him in his seat if he needed to pray about something. He sighed in relief, "Yeah." I took him out in the hallway away from noise and asked him what he wanted to pray about. He said,"About going to a safe school." We've had some issues in Boston schools, but it never occurred to me that kids would be afraid to go back to school because of safety at school. He's seven. How's he going to feel when he walks in the first day and his 2nd Grade teacher is packing?

I know guns don't shoot people, people shoot people. True...with guns. It's not that I don't think people could have guns, but my gut tells me schools need pencils, paper, crayons, science labs, calculators, computers, and textbooks first.

So maybe the classroom nostalgia was temporary because the classroom came to me.

Sunday after church with my youth congregational mass choir, I saw an old student online. I said hello, and entered into what started out being a confusing and disturbing conversation. Clearly this young man had forgotten who I was because he called me sexy, used slang, profanity, and misspelled words in conversation. (maybe it's not him) Then he proceeded to get frustrated because I was not a dude...because he is now into dudes. (I consider myself an open receptacle for student convo, but would he really come out to me? Let's see.) So I engaged in a conversation to feel this out. How long you been into dudes? -- I just realized this morning. -- What made you realize that? -- When I saw my (older) brother's "anatomy" -- Well, if you just realized this morning, you might realize something else later. Same rules apply for boys and girls. Be careful and go slow. (there are four of them so it could be any of them. let's clarify.) Which one is this? -- The one I taught (but not his nickname) -- You do know this is ms jones from YA, right? -- My teacher, right? -- (Bingo). Yes. -- Oooh snap. This is his friend (his name). I'm just getting him back for a joke he played on me. -- What did he do to you? -- He went on MySpace and said I was gay. LOL. It just kids jokes. -- (time to teach without teaching) -- Well, be careful. Some kids have gotten beaten up because others didn't like the idea of being gay. You guys should pick something less volatile, but still funny. --- True. Thanks for the advice. --- (Rehabilitate by offering safer alternatives.) Like having six toes or something, and then when they deny it, say they already had surgery. (My apologies to anybody who has six toes on one foot. I mean no disrespect. It was off the cuff ) --- You have good ideas! -- Thank you. -- Will you keep this secret? --

Before it was over, he told me how he got my student's password, what school he went to, and conferred on how people set themselves up. My student had saved his password on this kid's computer when he visited. He wanted to know why I talk to my students over IM, and I told him we did HW together that way. "oo that wat i call a gud teacher" I told him I would not tell if he agreed to change the joke, and we came up with other ideas. (His secondary ideas were rather simple and benign.) What if I say, "I'm an idiot." -- That works. (are you kidding me?) -- Thanks for being such a good help. -- No problem. In the future, just think about whether someone could get hurt in the prank. Then you would have to confess, and you'd get in trouble. Do whatever you have to do not to get in trouble, even if it is sacrificing a really good joke. -- Okay. Thanks. -- Have a good year "name." -- Alright Ms. Jones. U 2

You can imagine the myriad of emotions and thoughts that went through my head over the course of this conversation. Is this 14 year old really coming out to me? How will his Nigerian parents feel about this? Who else has he told? Why do these boys think gayness (they don't think in terms of homosexuality b/c media portrays gayness) is a joke? See the level and opportunities of torture and bullying and harrassment that is new since the WWW. When I was young, it was notes passed, word of mouth, or telephone. The underworld exists for kids and adults, even though they might not want to have anything to do with it, need to visit occasionally. Parent adults should be online as much as pedophile adults. Then you would have less pedophile adults. Imagine what could happen if the wrong person responds to his "im into dudes. i just realized this morning." talk. I was not about homosexuality for me, but safety and they should come out of their bubble long enough to recognize the variety of consequences for their actions. Then they think about their actions. Earlier I hope.

Yes, this must be obsessivity because beyond the offense, fear, compulsion to correct grammar, disagreement with the basis of the joke, nervousness about engaging in conversation about sexuality with a young person, desire to reprimand the prankster, and wanting to take a nap all took second priority to being available or teaching....With all the risks involved, this is why I keep a passport to the underworld. An hour later, my real student sends me an IM. "Ms. Jones, my friend said he got revenge with my teacher. Was it you?" Seems like friend told my student. Just maybe friend will think before he acts and still be able to have fun as a kid. Maybe I have a new student.

This time the classroom came to me uninvited. Thank God I didn't retire my thinking cap.

Resolved...

So, I just got around to seeing the Great Debaters. It's midday and the only other people in the theatre are over 50 and not brown, except for another pair. Guess we were the three musketeers.

Anyway, it resonates with me because:

1. I was on a debate team from 8th to 12th grade. The best thing about it was that there were only judges and the other team in the room. The second best thing about it was that I would prepare both sides no matter which one I was debating, and then I could avoid the 'overlooks.' (I have NEVER liked surprises.) Undefeated and still hate public speaking.
   
2. As much as I didn't want to be, I am a teacher. I recognize the daily challenge and triumph of trying to resurrect and preserve an individual's 'righteous mind.' I also love the fact that this time he can SEE the fruit of the obsessivity that we teachers suffer from 24/7. It is not passion because you might not love it. It is obsessivity because there is no end and as soon as you accomplish one task, you birth multiple others. The question that haunts you ("WHY...?") is the root of your own behavior. "Why not...?"
3. I like it when people dress as if they intended to accomplish something that day.
   
4. I'm from the South (a two type people town) and I live in New England. A(my) drawl (when it slips out, ok all the time) is usually connected to a 'slowness' of intelligence rather than a slowness of cadence. Only when I am in a bubble-bursting mood do I set one up to receive the trickle down facts that I have degrees from Harvard arch enemies. But did I ever want to rewind over and over Jurnee Smollett's voice in any rhetorical delivery...followed by respectful applause.
5. I cannot stand Boston. I believe that it is God's less-than-gracious prank on me. Today, I felt like this was a place where young people without their leader but "no opponent" could go deep into themselves, find who they are, and command accolade for the ability to think and present information. I can do that. My students can GO and WIN whatever they DECIDE. Here.
   

Now begins a love-hate relationship. Seems like I need to go run across that bridge, sit on Mem Drive, and figure out what I have RESOLVED that I have not completed. And I need to find a classroom. Quick.