Labor of love a heavy burden
Teaching
Regarding “White House seeks to arm teachers; Backs off on call to raise age limit for some guns” (Page A1, Monday), every time a new a problem comes into the public eye, the same easy solution is proposed: Train the teachers. When drug use, street violence, pregnancy, STD rates or obesity increase among youth, teachers are called on to provide the solution. In the wake of the Majory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., two easy solutions have been proposed: Arm the teachers and train them to identify and intercede with students who might be prone to committing mass murder.
I once worked in a school where there were two weapons incidents in one year. Later on, a principal who was a trained and certified peace officer was hired, and he carried his gun to work. My wife once worked in an alternative school under a principal who worked part time as a constable. He also kept a gun in his office. I don’t have a problem with such placements as long as their qualifications as educators are at least as strong as those of other candidates for the same position. Nor do I have a problem with arming teachers who undergo the equivalent of a peace officer’s full training. But to arm teachers, even those with knowledge and skill with weaponry, give them a few hours or days of training and basically make them deputy undercover SWAT team members is absurd.
Equally absurd is to expect teachers with only a few days’ training to do a task that professional psychiatrists would find challenging. It would be hard for any teacher, especially one with the scant training that would likely be offered, to be taken seriously when profiling potential mass killers. It’s hard enough for us to have our judgment accepted when we are acting within our areas of expertise. An English teacher who dares give a D-minus for an incoherent essay or a math or science teacher who tells students with marginal arithmetic skills not to seek careers in engineering can expect complaints, harassment and interference from students, parents and administrators.
Imagine the response when teachers make reports, based on only a layman’s knowledge of mental health issues, that certain students fit the profile of mass murderers.