Why School Shootings are an Education Issue?

1

Are school shootings an education issue?

Definitely yes. Few dare to deny that school shootings are a big education issue in more than one way. These events disrupt several stages and aspects of education and can affect students in more ways you can imagine. The two educational perspectives most related to these processes are the way this event affects students’ educational process, and the way the education system must get involved to present a solution.

Consequences on students’ educational process

· If students had a bad and traumatic experience, they might have post-traumatic stress. If they haven’t lived this experience, the fear of the possibility can develop into anxiety.

· Learning spaces (schools) must be safe spaces, these events disrupt the environment.

· Traumatic events become a distracting circumstance for months or even years after the event itself.

Education system articulated as a solution

· Schools must develop assistance programs specialized in these issues.

· Teachers and parents must reach a consensus about the best solutions.

· As a support system, teachers and parents must present a united front regarding their objectives, arguments and methods.

· The motives to perpetrate a massive shooting are particular and impossible to generalize. But support and care from school and home can be a relief to all students.

2

Gun control, the way to go?

There are rivers of ink that study the topic of gun control as a solution to school shootings and mass shootings in general. To know more about the subject, you can read gun control essays from experts, surely a good argumentative essay can explain its perspective as you need. In that site, you can find examples to widen your knowledge or use as inspiration or outline for a personal essay

But, no matter how many essays or articles you read, you will find that the consensus of the majority of experts is that gun control policies would be effective in reducing the rate of school shootings. Administrating the access that the general public has to guns reduces the chances of these weapons falling into the hands of people unfit to use them.

School shootings’ repercussions

On a school shooting, there are only victims; those who got hurt got physical wounds, and everyone involved has emotional wounds that are also hard to heal. These do not include only students but also teachers and any school personal or witnesses involved in the event. Some belittle the gravity of these experiences, so, to give you an idea of the profoundness of the problem, here we tell you some of the repercussions.

· Students, teachers and all witnesses will suffer from post-traumatic stress.

· Learning process gets interrupted.

· Students are faced with complex issues (like gun control policies) at a young age.

· Some individuals could develop other conditions, like anxiety, depression or bipolarity.

· School environment stops being a “safe space” and becomes associated with a traumatic event.

· It also affects the families of everyone directly involved on the event.

· Faced with this event, learning is no longer a priority for students.

The consequences and effects are more numerous and complex than those named here, but this shortlist can be an example of the impact this phenomenon has on education.

Parents and educators to the action

Since the most direct solution to stop school shootings seem to be related to gun control, teachers and parents must create a united front and demand actions from the authorities. It is in the hands of legislators to create lawful circumstances that might prevent massive shootings from happening. Being organized is a big declaration of distrust and presenting consolidated solutions is the best support system we can develop right now. It is paramount to keep our guard up and our students safe.