Revised: The Theory of Protection

DOCUMENT STATEMENT: Revising this essay was a new experience for me. At first, I struggled because of the new “restructuring” aspect but once I started referring to the essay as a “structured free-write”, my vision suddenly became clearer. When writing this essay, I pictured it as the aforementioned. In a way, I wrote around my essay. I asked questions to my “older” self and replied as my “newer” self. I saw it as a great way to show the differences in my views/writing from four years ago to my views/writing today.

Compared to Essay 1, I had a better time writing this essay. I typically don't like revising my older essays because I typically strive to well the first time so I wouldn't have to revise too much. This time around, this wasn't the case. This essay was written over four years ago. The writing is in no way comparable to the writing I produce now, but ironically, the topic is closely related to one that our country is debating on today--- whether or not we should arm our schools to protect them from possible school shootings.

Jade Walters

March 14, 2018

Reflective Writing Portfolio

Professor Galbraith

For four years, I attended a high school that required me to get scanned from head to toe every day. Before I attended, I had only experienced such thorough scanning from LaGuardia Airport. Every morning, I went through the same process. I had to remove all jewelry, belts, and anything else that I had on that contained metal. I placed everything in my bag and sent it through a scanner that saw everything I owned. If I had an open or reusable bottle, I had to drink everything inside of it in front of the security guard. After walking through the scanning machine, if I had more than one red beams, than I needed to get hand wanded. The process was tedious, but, over time I learned how to deal with it. I even managed to deal with the fact that we weren’t allowed to bring cell phones into the building; a dollar a day went to the corner store across the street that stored out phones.

In the tenth grade, NYC received a new mayor and rules were changed for NYC Public Schools. While it was still required for some schools to have metal detectors and ban certain objects, cell phones were allowed in school- previously banned in an attempt to prevent fights after school (ex: A student could call a friend who didn’t attend the school and ask them to come to the school and fight someone). In that same year, I wrote an essay in my Health class about whether or not school security guards should be armed. After seeing the professionalism carried out by my school’s security guards, I strongly believed that they should be armed:

“ The theory of a gun being an object that can help protect someone from imminent danger has been around since the invention of the aforementioned device. In this day and age, that theory is still around but now guns are used for other things such as hunting/killing animals and unfortunately, killing people. Years after deadly school massacres in the USA, such as the shootings at Columbine High and Sandy Hook Elementary, many of our nation’s schools have utilized ways to help protect themselves from potential similar situations. For example, the NYCDOE (New York City Department Of Education) has installed metal detectors, banned certain objects and electronic devices from their schools (such as knives and cell phones) and implemented procedures such as soft and hard lockdown drills. Although these implementations have proven to be beneficial, NYC public schools are still considered a “soft-target”; one that is an unarmed and undefended gun free zone. With that said, all NYCDOE schools should be given the opportunity to have armed school security guards as an extra step closer to protecting the children of our generation.

An important reason as to why we should arm our school security guards is that we will no longer be a soft target thus causing the potential shooter to move towards an easier, unarmed target. If one were to put themselves into the mind of a shooter, they will understand that the shooter only wants to go the easy way. They do not want to worry about someone attacking them when their main goal is to attack; their philosophy is to attack, not to be attacked. According to an article titled, ‘Schools Should Have Armed Security Guards’, the author Maury Jones states “...Or, we can de facto deputize millions of good guys/gals by allowing them to carry concealed weapons everywhere. That would be millions of good guys out there with a gun to stop the bad guy with a gun. There would be a far greater chance of stopping mass shootings.” This idea is one that others need to understand. A cop shouldn’t be the only one who is able to disarm the shooter and end a massacre because nine times out of ten, it may be too late. An armed security guard might not be able to stop the shooter from triggering their first bullet but they would be able to prevent any further bullets harming anyone; maybe even disarm their shooter.”

In the highlighted portion, I urged that school security guards should be armed because schools would no longer be a soft target for school shooters and that we should “put ourselves in the mind of a shooter.”. At the time, I believed that was the best option. I thought that having guns would no longer make us soft targets-in a way, it seems like I was implying that the shooter would move on to other targets that weren’t armed. I also don’t agree with the statement “put ourselves in the mind of a shooter”. A “school-shooter” shouldn’t be a title given to anyone. They shouldn’t even be a thing but unfortunately, they exist.

“With armed school security, our nation’s public schools will be one step closer to protecting our generation’s children instead of being three steps behind. It is widely known that people with a higher social status have the best security as possible. They’re strongly protected to the highest extent to avoid the incident of a shooting or physical attack from an outsider. Our children may not be A-List celebrities, international pop stars, or presidents of countries but at the end of the day, they deserve the best security as possible. These children are going to grow up and become adults in this world; inevitably making a change, so if we know that they’re going to become wonderful, diverse additions to our society, why aren’t we making it our best interest to protect them at all costs?

The idea of giving school security guards guns to protect the innocent is one that is controversial. Although it sounds like a beneficial to the ears in layman’s terms, there are a vast amount of people who disagree with the proposal. People who are against arming schools argue that with armed security the atmosphere of the educational facility may become tense and nerve-wracking as well as security possibly abusing their power with loaded weapons. With guns in schools, it inevitably creates a possible scenario in which a given guard with access to the loaded firearm may threaten a student with the weapon as an attempt to scare them, a guard may lose their mental ability to control themselves with the gun or maybe even a student may try to attack the guard as a way to retrieve the gun and use it in their own dangerous way. However, these situations can be avoided with the use of proper training, background checks, and safety protocols put into place.”

As of January 1, 2018, there has been 18 school shootings [CNN] . One of the most recent school shootings occured in Florida at Parkland High School where 17 people lost their lives. 17 different humans, personalities, and futures were lost on February 14, 2018. Today, on March 14, 2018, thousands of students participated in National WalkOut Day to stand up against gun violence [Mindock, Independent]. Coincidentally, a California student was injured after a teacher’s gun went off in class [Chavez, CNN].

After the Parkland shooting, Trump and his administration proposed that teachers should be armed in schools. People began debating whether or not that would be a good idea. At the time of writing my essay, I thought arming guards would be a good idea because they were trained for situations such as school shootings. It never once crossed my mind that teachers should be armed as well. A teacher’s job is to teach, to educate, to care, to protect--but not with weapons. Arming teachers puts a pressure on them whenever the school is in crisis. They’re suddenly the ones that need to put themselves in a situation, instead of protecting and calming down their students. Over the years, thanks to social media, we’ve seen cases of teachers going crazy with their students. Whether it’s yelling at them or throwing things at them, imagine if they had a gun. Imagine if the craziest teacher you’ve ever had was armed in class?

“Guns don't kill people; people kill people. Although the device is use to assassinate, it can be used as way to protect. Within the past decade, in the light of several school massacres such as the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, Columbine High shooting, Virginia Tech shooting, schools have created ways to protect themselves from similar situations. Most of them have implemented procedures such as soft and/or lock down drills, included metal detectors in the building and some have even gone as far as to training the kids how to protect themselves from the shooter by attacking them; whether it is to throw chairs, desks, or maybe even use force. The idea of having armed school security is one that has come up frequently when talking about protecting our generation’s kids. The presence of a gun in schools may seem unorthodox but would you rather have your child be six feet above or six feet under?”

At the time when I wrote this essay, I thought having guns in schools was the best idea. I thought fueling the fire with more fire would protect students in this generation from losing their lives. Why should have to be extra cautious at school when it’s already supposed to be a safe space for children everywhere? Why do people choose to shoot up schools filled with innocent children? These are questions that I can not answer in three pages or less. These are questions that I simply don’t know how to answer.

Bibliography:

Jones, M. (2013, January 5). Schools should have armed security guards. Retrieved February 21, 2015, from http://trib.com/opinion/columns/schools-should-have-armed-security-guards/article_d4007023-183e-5a98-a3ee-1d87d625344f.html

Chavez, Nicole. “Teacher accidentally fires gun and injures student in California.” CNN, Cable News Network, 14 Mar. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/03/14/us/california-teacher-fires-gun/index.html.

“There has been, on average, 1 school shooting every week this year.” CNN, Cable News Network, 8 Mar. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/03/02/us/school-shootings-2018-list-trnd/index.html.

Clark Mindock New York. “National walkout day: Thousands of students rally across US to demand action on gun control.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 14 Mar. 2018, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/national-walkout-day-brooklyn-new-york-high-school-students-gun-control-violence-florida-shooting-a8255996.html.