I know some schools arent like this, and things have been sorta slowly improving (for some districts) - just that everything I remember about K-12 education, is that the students were never really given any realistic recourse against bullies. We could go squeeling to the adults, who would put us right back with the bully having firmly told them to stop, or else theyd get another firm scolding… or we could defend ourselves, and get the same punishment for fighting as our tormenters if caught.
So bulletproof backpacks and live shooter drills are entirely in keeping with the time honored traditions of “letting the kids sort it out for themselves” except now the bullies have guns.
I know there are active, successful efforts to train kids not to bully other kids. And I think in addition to real firearm regulation, these measures will eventually stop the bloodshed.
This whole attitude of, “I was schooled in hard knocks and it didnt hurt me none” is giving the NRA and its apologists all the cover they need.
Shock doctrine has become part of the curriculum, to make workers of the future who are too traumatized to ask for decent working conditions and fair wages. The live shooter drills do nothing to keep our kids safe, but it fits with all the other demoralizing obedience training we’ve already come to accept as normal.
