Posted by Rugger on November 26, 1999 at 17:26:37:
As a freshmen in college who just graduated from high school, the issue of school violence evolving from several unfortunate incidents in the past year have stirred up intense emotions in both myself and my peers. However, the answer to whether or not high schools should install high tech security systems is no. I say this for many reasons. My high school took the Columbine shootings slightly differently than other high schools. This was due to several strange coincidences between our school and Columbine, from matching school colors to identical mascots. My point her is this: I watched my best friends sob and refuse to go to school as they feared ther lives the following day. I watched as several of my friends left school througout the day fearing a rumor that something was going to happen at 2pm. I watched my friends and classmates as they held their breaths at 2pm while I held mine. I watched teachers glance around their classrooms seeing only a handful of students present. I watched as parents urgently arrived to pick up their children much earlier than usual as I walked to my car in a normally packed, but that day, only a third-filled parking lot. For the students who did show up, we took a chance, a risk, and a stand at the same time. I am not blaming those who did not come to school, but doing that only allows the enemy to win. Bringing security systems to schools will not make the school safer, if one truly wanted to hurt others, there are more than a million ways to get around a flashy high-tech system. Security systems don't always protect, people just get smarter. If schools begin to install these systems, then the what will become of the students? To forever question the ulterior motives of those around them?Perhaps I am an idealist or a romantic, but I truly believe from the bottom of my heart that giving one another trust and compassion is the essence of the human soul. As humans, is our purpose not to serve one another as brothers and sisters? If a young 16 year old child ends the life of several children by a handgun, the answer is not to install metal detectors, that is just the disguise of the original problem. The root of the problem is what caused this human being to want to hurt others? It blows my mind to imagine the pain that this child was feeling in order to act out such a heinous crime upon so many others. No one is evil, but if one is hurt, then they hurt others so that they no longer have to be alone in pain. So the original question lies with whether metal detectors should be in schools? I think not. The government, county, school board, and tax payers should save their dollars, and invest something more precious into the school system: time. Time in the children, time into each child. Something more than one guidance counselor for each grade who does nothing more than assist us in choosing our classes for next year. Rather, perhaps programs where classmates can help one another, afterall, as teenagers we are all in the same boat, being from the same generation and facing the same issues despite how each situation is presented to different individuals. Students will not necessarily feel safer with security systems, as for myself, I would be more nervous in wondering what could happen that would actually necessitate such expensive equiptment. After such a soliloquy, many may still be in disagreement with me, including my own mother. But perhaps an example will help: Say I, an 18 year old female in high school were to attend a school which had all the fancy security equipment, go through metal detectors and random searches as part of daily routine. However, I have serious issues going on in my personal life which causes me to have violent outbursts. One day at school, I corner another student in the bathroom and stab her repeatedly in the head and face with a pencil and assault her to the point of death...does this mean that students now will no longer be allowed to use pencils or the restroom? Taking guns away and sharp objects, etc. will NOT solve the problem, it will, however, create a larger problem. One must consider an option not involving high-tech "toys" and ponder what has always worked to some degree: simply helping one another so that no one will have to endure or undergo pain or loneliness alone. I often glance around myself and see the loners, those without friends, those who are picked on, and realize that the reason that they are outcasts is because those people are the ones who portray the sides of ourselves that we are most afraid of and are scared to see present in ourselves. In order to prove ourselves above such weakness, we end up harrassing those who are bold enough to show their weaker sides. So, after all of this, I truly hope that I have given some light to the less popular option against school security systems. I have to do a speech on this for school, so if anyone has any information supporting NO security in schools or even security IN schools, I would GREATLY appreciate if you could email it to me. (this speech is actually a debate) Thank you for listening.