As I write this, CNN is covering a former police officer's murder trial. He claims he accidentally elbowed his pregnant girlfriend in the throat, breaking her windpipe, killing her, and then panicked and buried her body in a park. If he is convicted, he will likely receive the death penalty.
A few moments ago, CNN was covering the latest school/university shooting, this one at Northern Illinois University. A police officer explained that the local police responded with amazing speed. The shooting began at 3:26 p.m. Within thirty seconds, two police officers were there. Within another minute and a half, eight policemen were on scene. They were all too late to prevent the gunman--a former graduate student at NIU--from shooting 21 people, killing six plus himself.
On Tuesday, my first class period after this tragedy, I was planning to give my students practice brainstorming. I'd planned to focus their efforts on research paper topics. Instead, I think I might have them brainstorm about what the hell causes monsterous acts like the NIU, Virginia Tech, Columbine, and Jonesboro (AK) shootings, how they could possibly be prevented, why/how sick our culture and society is that people do this stuff. Maybe, hopefully, they can give me some answers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I know! When did it become acceptable to kill people? Because it seems like so many people are committing this crime, the perpetrators must have felt it was an allowable offense - only thing is, we can't ask them because they all die in the act. I finally discussed this in my class - we need to bring the topic out in the open. Our silence only compounds the fear. As teachers, we have an obligation - a responsibility to our students -to protect them if at all possible. Discuss the issue in class, make a plan. Personally, I want my students to see my outrage - I don't want school shootings to become any more commonplace than they are now
Strangely, I had planned to do the same thing on Wed. I am glad I am not the only one who thinks this is an issue we need to address in the classroom. I think that the English classroom is just the place for such as discussion.
Post a Comment