Search

ARCHIVES
CONTACT US
WORLD NEWS

Taking aim

Yesterday morning, sixth-grade teacher Kathy Morris of La Cima Middle School was shot. Reports state that Morris was shot after taking a break from staff meeting preparation in her classroom. Dangerous times are these when educators must don bullet proof vests and carry firearms to teach.

Currently, Morris is in guarded condition at the University Medical Center after incurring a non-lethal gunshot wound to the shoulder. Currently, investigators from the Tucson police department are seeking a 19-year-old suspect with a shaved head. Hopefully, they will be successful in finding the perpetrator.

To Kathy Morris, we send out prayers that she might heal quickly and not lose her passion to teach in the wake of this shooting. Additionally, the students of La Cima must be consoled in light of the severity of this violent act. Finally, the soul of the criminal begs compassion as he is a product of self-misguidance.

Danger surrounds many professions, but none with such media attention as school teachers. Of late there have been incidents all across the United States whose images we cannot easily dodge as children and teachers fleeing flying bullets remains a vivid mental picture.

Having grown up in inner-city Atlanta and attending a wide array of schools, school violence hits home for me. Seeing the children of my youth maturing into killers is disturbing, and all the more so as moving here was supposed to extract that element from my life.

Before thinking about putting on protective gear, a teacher must anticipate the obstacles of educating, of leading, of mentoring to those children who will grow up to be, expectantly, positive members of society. How does someone like Kathy Morris concentrate on bringing such impressionable minds to development when a bullet may strike at any moment? At best, it is difficult. At worst, it is impossible.

It's ludicrous to expect for teachers to tote pens, chalk, erasers and a Glock in order to properly and safely educate. Anymore, it seems that colleges of education on U.S. campuses should be redesigned to include firing ranges and in-depth courses on self defense. Unfortunately, in the increasingly violent student sub-culture, it seems as though anything short of such additions is an invitation to danger. American youth will find weapons at any expense and by ingenuous means, it's a shame that such ingenuity isn't used for math, science, or the language arts.

The question, then, is why young people carry such animosity for educators. Is it just an advanced form of rebelling? Maybe the cost and worth of life is no longer instilled in our young. These are weak theories forwarded by a handful of sociologists. The answer lies in the importance of family.

Single parent homes can be functional. Most of us remember the debate spawned by Dan Quayle's ill-fated criticism of the television show, Murphy Brown. However, there is merit in the argument; not inasmuch as a single parent is destined to be unable, but in that kids without some manner of supervision are opened to too many risks.

Statistics indicate that unsupervised children are prone to committing violent acts, and those against teachers are not excluded. Imagine what's available to a child just in a household: enough cleaning agents to concoct a bomb, spare cars, and, as we've seen, guns.

Granted, the 19-year-old in question is a "man" by legal qualifications, and certainly didn't just "lose it." Evidence indicates that the shooting was premeditated and that threats had been received by Morris for two weeks prior to the act. This was an act of aggression borne out of years of misguidance.

What's more, the teachers who can give these children at least some form of direction from 8 to 3 everyday are being shot at. The cycle is becoming increasingly desperate. Seeing as that teacher salaries are below that of garbage men, the threat of being shot is not at all an incentive to the nation's university students to pursue careers in education.

Bullet proof vests are not an answer because, one, the head is not protected, and, more seriously, they do not increase the plausibility of effective teaching environments. More emphasis needs to be placed on home growth and on maturation outside the classroom. Perhaps, then, children would learn to appreciate the service their educators are providing them. Teachers should be concerned with curriculums, not gunfire.