October 16, 2013; Progressive Populist

 

Who needs satire when you have real news? Try this: A middle school in Goldsboro, N.C., mounted an unusual “enrichment exercise” to teach the sixth-graders to be aware of their surroundings. The school administration sent someone wearing a ski mask into classrooms with a toy gun, pretending to rob the kids. An unnamed school administrator interviewed on camera by WGHP News said that the idiotic stunt “in its original intent was appropriate, but how it was executed obviously lacked judgment.” Ya think?

In the wake of multiple school shootings across the nation, it is not difficult to imagine the traumatized reactions of some of the Eastern Wayne Middle School pupils. Fortunately, as noted by Progressive Populist, no teacher pulled out a concealed weapon and shot ski-mask-man, which would have been a new threshold of student enrichment.

Far-fetched? Not if the National Rifle Association has its way. Remember, the NRA believes that more guns in schools will help protect students. The NRA’s report this spring called for arming and training teachers and other school personnel.

Although the numbers vary, the expert reports are consistent in showing that living in a home where there are guns present increases the risk of homicide by 40 percent and suicide by 90 percent. Imagine the impacts of having guns in jackets, holsters, or back pockets of school teachers and administrators.

The Goldsboro pupils just had their enrichment experience with the idea of guns in the classroom. Judgment on the part of the school? Nonexistent. Lesson taught by the school? Trauma.—Rick Cohen