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Ashley Morrison

Professor Moore

ENGL-1302

31 March 2018

School Shootings

All around the world, there is a chance of massive shooting in schools. The

students could be in serious danger everyday. There is a high risk factor of a shooting

happening due to the amount of protection inside the building. Schools are trying to find

a study to indicate the problem, to solve the problem, and creating a solution to help the

students be safe. There is a problem though there has been enough research to conduct in

the areas of the massive shootings to help prevent them. According to Helen Jeehae, “the

frequency of school shootings has gradually increased since 1760s when the first school

shooting incident occurred in the United States. There have been 54 school shooting

incidents in the United States since 2010. For example, the horrors of Virginia Tech

massacre in 2007 and Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 shocked the

entire nation. In addition to the increasing school shootings, it is concerning to find that a

child in the United States” (Jeehae, par.8). The amount of shootings in the schools is

outrageous. It may show that it was spread out through years, but there were shootings

which is the problem. “Perhaps the biggest challenge in studying school shootings,

particularly when trying to determine their prevalence is the absence of a precise”

(Esyass, par. 4). School boards should continue to research in ways to improve the

amount of bullying, violence, and protection to lessen the amount of shootings that

happens in the schools to prevent serious deaths in the future.

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Some of the indicators of causing a shooting is bullying on the student. There is a

possibility the students in the school are in danger because of what happens inside the

building. It is important to understand that students should walk in the school and need to

feel safe inside the building. The children are getting treated badly by their peers because

of their sexual orientation appearances. The student that wants to commit the crime in the

school generally means they have been bullied by another person. According to Carol

Goodenow, “sexual orientation trends and disparities in school violence-related

experiences in a population based sample of high school students, found significant

improvements in school safety from 1999 to 2013, but mainly for heterosexual males and

females and for gay male youth, with mixed results for bisexual males and little

improvement for lesbian and bisexual females” (Goodenow, par.16). The students need

someone to talk about the problem that is happening to them. Sexual orientation should

not be an indicator to start bullying another individual. When troubling is our finding,

despite some widespread improvements in the social situation of sexual minorities and

despite the specific reductions in school violence observed here, sexual orientation

disparities remain largely unchanged. In analyses of each outcome in each wave, the great

majority of disparities between sexual minority youth and their heterosexual counterparts

showed significantly higher risk for the former” (Goodenow, par.17). Sexual orientation

has a higher risk of causing tremendous risk on a school. The number of finding about

sexual orientation is outrageous because no students should judge other students

appearance in the school.

The schools need to pay attention to all the violence going around in the hallways.

The aggression that eventually builds up might cause a shooting inside the school. When
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a student feels aggression in their bodies and wants to use violence to solve the

aggression. They think violence is the answer to all their problems. When a student feels

mistreated by their family or friends it can lead to reckless behavior towards their peers

and staff. According to Elsass, “when an individual is fearful, they want to may change or

limit their routine. The activities or behaviors combat with a perceived threat” (Elsass,

par. 7). When a student feels that fear or isolation they want to start violence. For

example, one day everything might seem fine, but the next day comes that is when

everyone should be worried. Zahraa McDonald says, “violence at and around schools is

associated with school dropouts and depression. Indirect victimization contributes to an

atmosphere of fear and insecurity at school, which inevitably interferes with learning,

stunts academic performance and, ultimately, impacts negatively on the longer

developmental trajectories of young people’ (Burton and Leoschut 2010). This means that

the impact of violence is not limited to direct victims. According to Wahid, ‘fear, control

and compliance are the intended end of ... violent acts that are undesirable for any form

of human interaction and interdependence” (McDonald, par.16). The violence is

developed when the start feeling depression. The depression makes them not think clearly

because they are upset, and they feel like they do not feel welcome at school. When the

student starts to not think clearly it leads to reckless behavior. Having safety back in the

schools it can help the victim feel non-isolated from his or her peers. The safety can help

the student feel apart of the school. The student will start to feel like a friend to others.

Once the safety is approached in the building it will reduce the number of shootings.

In the schools, it is important to understand that schools should have the right amount of

protection when needed. Every school should have the right amount of police and
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security to be armed, trained, and to be prepared for the unexpected inside the schools.

The police or security guards have rules to follow when protecting the people. They have

a protocol to follow in every tragic event that occurs wherever the location might be.

Several local sheriffs’ deputies waited outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

while a shooter gunned down multiple people, killing 17, according to new reports”

(Stewart, par.1). The officers actually waited and watched seventeen people getting

killed. They did not do anything to help stop the shooter. In the school the guards need to

be prepared for any attack because it can happen at any moment. It is the officers’ job to

keep an eye out and protect all the students. When one of the officers was in the building,

“Officer Peterson noticed the killer; he should have protected the other students from the

shooter. Trump's criticism went further, describing Peterson as a "coward" and proposing

arming teachers as an alternative” (Raphelson, par. 9). A solution needs to occur for the

students’ protection because the students cannot protect themselves when a school

shooting is happening. When the first gunshot is fired their first instinct of the student is

to run and get safe. The student is not trying to search for who has the gun in their hand.

It is trying to protect them. The officer should have protected the people that are in the

school. That is why there are police in the schools. Having the protection from security

can help the school tremendously when there is a shooting occurring.

Every school should upgrade their security watch, and the amount of training that

the security and teachers have inside the building. At Marjory Stoneman Douglas High

School one of the “trained officers failed to stop the gunman before he killed 17 people

and injured more. Now President Trump and others are advocating for arming teachers”

(Stewart, par. 12). Stewart provided details on what solution that people are considering
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on what needs to happen for protection when a gun is brought onto the premises. When

people were investigating the Florida shooting they were asking around about the police

officers that were on duty in the school and trying to get details on what was going on in

the school. President Trump was announcing his opinion about the shooting in Florida to

the people because a solution needs to take place. Trump was saying the schools should

arm the teachers during school hours. Arming the teachers might not be the best option,

but he is trying to come up with a solution for having better protection. Everyone has a

different opinion on arming the teachers, but there needs to be more protection inside the

building. When the teachers are armed it can help the students make it out in time to be

safe when the shooter is in the same building. The student cannot see the gun in time

before they get shot. Arming the teachers will help start a solution for the amount of

shootings that have been happening. The police have a right to serve and protect every

student and staff in the building that is their job. For example, Peterson was the officer on

duty. When the “first shots were fired on Feb. 14 and that he got on his radio and then he

moved towards the outside of the building where the shooting was taking place” (Rozsa,

par.10). He was not doing his job. He just walked outside leaving the students and staff in

danger. Adding more security in the schools can be a solution also because there is a

bigger chance to prevent the larger amount of deaths.

The school board should be more aware for the students’ safety during school

hours. A way to prevent the amount of deaths inside the school is to add more protection

from security should take place. Arming the teachers is also another to help prevent a

huge number of deaths. The school board needs to help prevent criminal activity by

adding more security guards and arming teachers on the premises of the school. School
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boards should continue to research in ways to improve the amount of bullying, violence,

and protection to lessen the number of shootings that happens in the schools to prevent

serious deaths in the future.

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Work cited

Elsass, Jaymi. H., et al. "Studying School Shootings: Challenges and Considerations for

Research." American Journal of Criminal Justice, vol. 41, no. 3, Sept. 2016, pp.

444-464. EBSCOhost, doi: 10.1007/s12103-015-9311-9. Accessed 27 February

2018.

Goodenow, Carol, et al. "Sexual Orientation Trends and Disparities in School Bullying

and Violence-Related Experiences, 1999–2013." Psychology of Sexual

Orientation and Gender Diversity, vol. 3, no. 4, Dec. 2016, pp. 386-396.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/sgd0000188. Accessed 27 March 2018.

JeeHae Helen, Lee1. "School Shootings in the U.S. Public Schools: Analysis through the

Eyes of an Educator." Review of Higher Education & Self-Learning, vol. 6, no.

22, Fall2013, pp. 88-119. EBSCOhost, libproxy.uhcl.edu/login?

url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=eue&AN=94256141&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

McDonald, Zahraa. "Interrupting School Violence with Deliberative Encounters." South

African Review of Sociology, vol. 45, no. 3, Sept. 2014, pp. 20-33. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1080/21528586.2014.945945. Accessed 27 March 2018.

Raphelson, Samantha. “Was Florida Deputy A ‘Coward’? School Shooting Highlight

Trails of Police Duty.” http://wlrn.org/post/was-florida-deputy-coward-school-

shooting-highlights-trials-police-duty. Accessed 4 March 2018.

Rozsa, Lori. “Armed sheriff’s deputy stayed outside Florida school while mass killing

took place.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-

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nation/wp/2018/02/22/armed-sheriffs-deputy-stayed-outside-florida-school-while-

mass-killing-took-place/?utm_term=.3440ac52298f. Accessed 27 March 2018.

Stewart, Emily. “Multiple Armed Officers Hung Back during Florida School Shooting,

Reporters say.” https://www.vox.com/policy-and-

politics/2018/2/24/17048720/florida-shooting-law-enforcement-gun. Accessed 4

March 2018.