How "Normal" Was Your American School Experience?
Content warning: This post includes discussions of mass shootings, including the recent ones in Uvalde, Buffalo, and Laguna Hills.
The horrific shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas came just 10 days after the shooting in Buffalo, which was followed almost immediately by the shooting in Laguna Hills, California.
Uvalde is now the 27th mass shooting to take place at an American school in 2022 (so far). We're not even halfway through the year. And instead of lawmakers passing gun control legislation to try to prevent such school shootings, the job of protecting students and teachers has fallen...on the students and teachers themselves.
To emphasize just how gut-wrenchingly "normal" these precautions and the reality of gun violence have become, scroll below. Complete the sentence below by checking off each item that applies to you.
Check I had to walk through a metal detector every single day
Check I participated in regularly scheduled lockdown drills
Check I participated in regularly scheduled evacuation drills
Check My teachers were taught how to defend their classroom
Check We had security guards and/or resource officers present in our school
Check My parents or school board considered purchasing or purchased a bulletproof backpack
Check I had to carry a clear backpack
Check My school had actually banned backpacks altogether
Check My classroom door was amored and could protect against bullets
Check My classroom had a whiteboard that was amored and could protect against bullets
Check My teachers taught me how to find hiding spots in the classroom
Check We had to carry identification cards or badges with us
Check And those identification cards or badges were used to open certain doors
Check My classmates and I have practiced barricading a door with our chairs and desks
Check Our classroom was equipped with "threat cards," which could be placed in the window to indicate to EMS/police how serious a situation was
Check My classmates and I have gone through extensive first aid training
Check I was taught to throw objects at someone who was forcing their way into my classroom, in an effort to distract them and defend myself
Check I was sent home from school or told not to attend school because of a potential threat
Check I was scared to go to school
