h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I tend toward the phrase,"Better the devil you know rather than the devil you don't know."

To hate and fear firearms to the point of avoiding even thinking about them, let alone learning about them, is to make a weapon that is not even there a dangerous part of your life.
Kinda like the argument that if you don't teach about sex, then no one will have it.
I fear firearms because I am trained in their use and I have used them for years. I know what they can do and what they can't do.
They are not inherently evil on their own. You have to impart that evil yourself.
When I was in the Army, I was continually in fear for my life because there were people handling rifles that I wouldn't trust with a butter knife. A little arrogance goes a long way.

What the kids in the schools should be armed with is a knowledge that a firearm is not a magic wand and the user is not an evil wizard.
There are things you can do. Like pay attention.
Many of those school shootings were not 'sperm of the moment' activities. In hindsight, armchair detective style, there were many indications that the parents, teachers and fellow students should have been aware of.
Not afraid of. Aware of.

Schools are supposed to have a role in preparing kids for some areas of life. Unfortunately, they seem to be trying to prepare them for some kind of Orwellian docility...

Raising children to be victims is a lot more frightening to me than raising them to be aware that any situation you can avoid is one that you have survived.

I agree with you in principle, TR, but I'm not sure that just giving schoolkids guns is the best way to put the ideas you have described into action.

OH, HORRORS,NO!

I am against the idea of schoolkids armed with firearms.
I just meant that there is more than one way to 'arm' them.
What is that stupid phrase? "Forewarned is forearmed."

I am gratified by your response.
I suppose that a bit of education could go a long way. But then, there are a lot of things that ought to be taught to kids but aren't, because there simply is not enough class time. I suppose there will be a governmental fashion for it at some point, and they will drop the hour per year that goes to social responsibility, or alcohol awareness, or basic literacy.

That would require teachers that are not enveloped in their own Orwellian nightmare.
And administrators who have spent a couple of minutes outside the box.

I have serious doubts about the usefulness of the government in education. Properly educated people might not be involved with government. Which strongly suggests that you cannot give children what you never had...
Since, by definition, everything a government or a legislature does is a form of propaganda in the first place...it would only be by accident that students would benefit from adult selfishness...

Maybe I am being a little silly. I like being controversial.

But I certainly think that insulating children from weapons and their effects is not good. Maybe actually arming them is idiotic but teaching them about weapon safety and usage should be required.

It's something for the curriculum people to think about for that hour per week that most secondary schools set aside for 'other' stuff.

By the way, has anyone else noticed that the subject looks worryingly like a newspaper headline?

Three possible ones.

Arm Kids in School? Madness!

Arm Kids in School Madness?

"Arm Kids
In School!"
Madness!

Of course, with the possible exception of moi, very few people compose their subjects very carefully.

Which reminds me, take a look at this:http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A707474
I'm learning ML...slowly.

(Orwellian? please explain. what book is that?)

It is a reference to 1984. They are under constant scrutiny, the manuals and curriculum guides they use are full of Newspeak and their history texts are revised in a PC manner. They can be sued for actually doing their jobs correctly. They can be promoted for not doing their jobs and they are supervised by people who have probably never taught so much as a dog. They daily face children who are not and may never be students, who speak a language that is full of cant and slang, and who wear things that would have made a whore blush twenty years ago.

ok, thanks. i'll have to read it sometime.

I doubt you'll find much reference to the National Curriculum in 1984. It's a principle rather than a direct quote.

yeh, i get that. still sounds good though.

Read it with the lights on.

The day I have to face a class of 30 teenagers all armed is the day I retire from teaching.

Incog.

I knew a gentlemen who used to teach a basic field evidence class for the state of New Hampshire. He said he was never so nervous in his years in the military and law enforcement than when he was facing a class full of armed deputies and officers because some of them would get bored and begin to fiddle with their pistols during class.
He instituted a policy of standing at the door and making them unload before they came into class.
This was questioned by the Local Police Union until he had his lawyer have a little chat with them about liability. Their's.

Incog, the day you face a class of teenagers all armed is probably the day you see a class of teenagers walk out after 5 minutes.