Florida parents are justifiably outraged that police entered a middle school with what looked like drawn guns without informing students and teachers that it was just a drill. The school has apologized, but OMG, what a stupid stunt. Kids were texting parents asking for help. What if a parent had a car accident trying to rush to the school? What if a kid jumped out a second story window? What if a teacher smashed a chair into one of the cops' faces?
Okay, save your cheers and jeers until after you see the vid below. My biggest complaint here is that drills shouldn't be so realistic that people can get hurt because they don't know it's a drill. And the very act of terrifying kids defeats the purpose of protecting them. Surely there's a better way to achieve realism than a drill so realistic that even the teachers don't know it's fake.
http://abcnews.go.com/...
Some schools are teaching teachers and even some students how to respond if a shooter gets past their barricades during a lockdown. I'm all for hand to hand defense training. Reminds me of the rape prevention classes in the 1970s and 1980s. For some women, it was the first time they had to think about whether they could shove their keys into someone's eyeball. I don't want teachers dying because they think they should run into the hallway to stop a shooter, but if he comes into the room, it's better to be prepared to attack then get shot like a sitting duck. There's nothing worse than a half hearted attempt to be a hero that fails miserably because of emotional hesitation. Self defense is something that is better executed if it's been thought through in advance. I've already told my kids not to follow school instructions that have them huddling in a corner. If it's the real deal, I want them out the window and running for their lives. But if escape is impossible, you do whatever you can to save your life.
Of course, one issue that many people have with these drills is that they condition our children to a militarized police force. I don't want our populace getting comfortable with the tools of fascism and totalitarianism. Then there's the psychological damage of scaring the crap out of middle school aged kids...