Teacher Offers Real Solution To School Shootings

The number of mass murders this country has endured in schools is devastating. In the wake of the recent tragedy in Florida, this is very real right now.

There is no doubt that change needs to happen to aid in the resolution of violence in American schools.

Liberals want you to think the answer is to unarm the security guards who protect our children, so only the insane, criminally minded can carry armed weapons into the schools.

Or, progressives look to abolish all the guns, thinking that violence is only the result of the tool you wish to inflict it with.

With all the commotion around gun laws, few are speaking out about the mental state of the disturbed young man who did the unthinkable.

The hearts and minds of students that are running off the course of life need to be attended to prior to violent outbursts, they need to be taught things beyond the textbooks.

An elementary school teacher has been doing just that in her classroom over the years, ever since the deadly Columbine school massacre on April 20, 1999.

Recognizing a need to do more than hold a signpost, this teacher put her former NASA intellect into constructing a method that revealed the hearts of troubled young people.

Reader’s Digest revealed more on the construct implemented by the caring teacher, told by the mother of one of her students named Chase:

“Every Friday afternoon, she asks her students to take out a piece of paper and write down the names of four children with whom they’d like to sit the following week. The children know that these requests may or may not be honored. She also asks the students to nominate one student who they believe has been an exceptional classroom citizen that week. All ballots are privately submitted to her.

And every single Friday afternoon, after the students go home, she takes out those slips of paper, places them in front of her, and studies them. She looks for patterns.

Who is not getting requested by anyone else?

Who can’t think of anyone to request?

Who never gets noticed enough to be nominated?

Who had a million friends last week and none this week?

You see, Chase’s teacher is not looking for a new seating chart or “exceptional citizens.” Chase’s teacher is looking for lonely children. She’s looking for children who are struggling to connect with other children. She’s identifying the little ones who are falling through the cracks of the class’s social life. She is discovering whose gifts are going unnoticed by their peers. And she’s pinning down—right away—who’s being bullied and who is doing the bullying.”

This smart teacher realized after Columbine “that all violence begins with disconnection.”

Kids who don’t get the attention they need, and lack the social knowledge, or means, to receive it in a healthy way, will often resort to unhealthy avenues to get the need met.

This is why the elementary school teacher “decided to start fighting violence early and often in the world within her reach”, according to the Reader’s Digest. 

That reality hit close to home for a composition teacher at a small college in Florida, only a mere five minutes from the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre.

Scary Mommy shared the Floridian instructor’s fears of her daily job:

“I can barely wade knee-deep in the ocean without having a panic attack, yet every day I must summon from an unknown well within me, the courage to unlock my classroom door, and simply…teach.

This Florida teacher is reminded every morning of her duties when she picks up her keys, and the heavy ring has a distinct key with a red loop, according to Scary Mommy.

The key that stands out is her lockdown key, the one she may have seconds to utilize to save her students’ lives.

Never knowing if today will be the day a gunman rampages the halls of her school or her daughter’s school, the college teacher makes the most of each day. Scary Mommy has more:

“I walk her all the way to the door each morning, and it’s become a habit to kiss her extra, to squeeze her one more time, to turn and look back at her freckled face once more before I go, because…who knows? It could be her school next time. Or it could be mine.”

These are not the only teachers that think about the possibility of danger in their classroom. The teacher of the college instructor’s daughter keeps lollipops on her desk for an unlikely reason.

Scary Mommy revealed the brilliant thoughts behind the sweet stash:

“She told me it’s easier for the children to stay silent if they have something in their mouths when they have to hide in the supply closet.”

Our prayers go out to all the family and loved ones of the innocent lives lost to Nicolas Cruz’s heinous actions. As well as, to the students who will be forever changed by this horrific event.

When these monstrosities occur, we should give pause to contemplate our place and contribution in the world we surround ourselves with, and invariably affect.

Stripping a society of absolutes, and morality adds confusion and misguided actions that seek meaning in a world that is telling them to create their own.

Embracing liberal values is like playing with fire in a hay field. Where relativity reigns and blame is never yours to bear, a generation is being dangerously formed that can find justice in the most deplorable of events.

Please let us know what you think of the elementary school teacher’s way of finding out which of her students need a little more help.