Simpler Times
I wish for simpler times. I wish that my 5th grade students (and all students, really) could simply have the same 5th grade experiences that I had. It was just a completely different time, even though, to me, it just doesn't seem like that long ago. What I would call a "normal" childhood when I was in 5th grade would probably be considered a rarity now in many places. But that is just not the way that things are now. I think that the amount of mental health education that we do now, which is obviously incredibly important, seemed non-existent when I was in 5th grade. These are the times we live in.
20 years ago I was a senior in high school, and it was 20 years ago that the Columbine shootings happened. These shootings were, by my recollection, the first time that an example of school violence held the nation's attention. It just seemed so far away, though, like it couldn't happen around here. I don't know for sure, as I was still pretty much a kid at that time, but I imagine it was at that time that paying attention to students' mental health became a little more encouraged in school. December 14 of this year will be 7 years since the unbelievable events that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Once again, the nation's attention was on this horrible act of violence, and I was teaching by then; teaching children just a little bit older than those killed in the shooting. But what hit me even more at that time was that I had a daughter who was the exact same age as those students. I can't even imagine the pain that those parents felt, but I know the response that schools began to take. Once again, though, it just seemed so far away. Flash forward to just a little under 2 years ago and we arrive at the Stoneman Douglas High School shootings in Parkland, Florida. Another horrible act of violence at a school, but a school that seemed so far away. Once again, as educators, we evaluated our safety plans at school and continued to watch over our students.
Now we are at today, but things aren't so far away anymore. 2 examples of school violence made the news this week, one of which was in Oshkosh. Oshkosh. Where I went to college to get my degree in education. When I first got my degree, I never would have imagined that I would be writing about this now. It seems unreal.
Schools have changed. Schools have changed in order to try to meet the social, mental, and emotional needs of the students. But that is not enough. There needs to be a societal change. There needs to be a cultural change. There needs to be a political change.
I wish for a future in which our students don't see the need to resort to guns to solve their problems. I wish for a time when I don't turn on the television and see news of yet another example of school violence. I wish for a time when students wouldn't even know what a lockdown drill was.
I wish for simpler times.
Mindfulness thought for the week: You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can be grateful because thorn bushes have roses.
20 years ago I was a senior in high school, and it was 20 years ago that the Columbine shootings happened. These shootings were, by my recollection, the first time that an example of school violence held the nation's attention. It just seemed so far away, though, like it couldn't happen around here. I don't know for sure, as I was still pretty much a kid at that time, but I imagine it was at that time that paying attention to students' mental health became a little more encouraged in school. December 14 of this year will be 7 years since the unbelievable events that occurred at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Once again, the nation's attention was on this horrible act of violence, and I was teaching by then; teaching children just a little bit older than those killed in the shooting. But what hit me even more at that time was that I had a daughter who was the exact same age as those students. I can't even imagine the pain that those parents felt, but I know the response that schools began to take. Once again, though, it just seemed so far away. Flash forward to just a little under 2 years ago and we arrive at the Stoneman Douglas High School shootings in Parkland, Florida. Another horrible act of violence at a school, but a school that seemed so far away. Once again, as educators, we evaluated our safety plans at school and continued to watch over our students.
Now we are at today, but things aren't so far away anymore. 2 examples of school violence made the news this week, one of which was in Oshkosh. Oshkosh. Where I went to college to get my degree in education. When I first got my degree, I never would have imagined that I would be writing about this now. It seems unreal.
Schools have changed. Schools have changed in order to try to meet the social, mental, and emotional needs of the students. But that is not enough. There needs to be a societal change. There needs to be a cultural change. There needs to be a political change.
I wish for a future in which our students don't see the need to resort to guns to solve their problems. I wish for a time when I don't turn on the television and see news of yet another example of school violence. I wish for a time when students wouldn't even know what a lockdown drill was.
I wish for simpler times.
Mindfulness thought for the week: You can complain because roses have thorns, or you can be grateful because thorn bushes have roses.
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