My brass quintet does educational gigs a few times a year, where we go into area elementary schools and introduce children to our instruments and our profession. We teach at a wide variety of schools, from suburban schools with every possible convenience to inner city schools where they are struggling simply to maintain order. You really never know what you're going to find.
Today, we had word that they were going to do a "lockdown" drill which would take precedence over our performance. We ended up having to wait for a half hour, and then witnessed one of the most bizarre and tragic scenes I've ever seen.
At 10:00 today, the principal announced that we all needed to go into lockdown. The teacher pulled the shades, locked the door, and turned off the light, then directed the students to line up against the walls and sit cross legged with heads bowed down to the floor. There was giggling and squirming, but the teacher was stern. She mentioned that if a gunman entered the building, with the desire to shoot and kill, then the sounds the kids were making could let him know there were children in this room.
She talked about Virginia Tech, and how a gunman shot and killed students, and that we call this a massacre. She said this all very matter of factly, as if she was discussing the way a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. The children all seemed to take this in stride, despite how obtuse the teacher seemed to be at the potential negative impact of her words.
We sat in quiet darkness, and my colleagues and I observed the surreal scene of tiny bodies bent over in a drill that might protect them if a crazy gunman entered the building. What a difference it is from my own elementary school education. We drilled for fires and tornadoes, not madmen.
What has the world come to?
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1 comment:
That is really sad and depressing. I understand the need for preparedness, but putting that possibility on such young shoulders seems too much.
I am reminded of the father in Life is Beautiful who protects his son from the reality of their situation in a concentration camp by making it a game.
This sort of evil isn't new, it just feels closer.
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