Back to School Essentials from Sandy Hook

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:right, because bulletproof clothing and gear is the answer

IT'S THE DAMN GUNS, PEOPLE!

Since it would be hard to confiscate all guns from every single person out there, how about we start with a little beefed up school security?

How much do you want to bet the gun manufacturers are heavily-invested in Kevlar based companies that make bulletproof jackets, backpacks, and hoodies?

They're making money whether the kids live or die.

[Anonymous]

My child isn’t protected from an, “ it’s the guns, people!” attitude. That won’t stop a bullet. Maybe a backpack will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:right, because bulletproof clothing and gear is the answer

IT'S THE DAMN GUNS, PEOPLE!

Well, combined with parents and schools pussyfooting around discipline. Theres a post in the general Schools forum on holding schools accountable, about this. I’m an elementary teacher in LCPS and we routinely allow violent students back into school after a few-day refresher, and give them stickers when they haven’t stabbed anyone with a pencil (true story) in about a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:right, because bulletproof clothing and gear is the answer

IT'S THE DAMN GUNS, PEOPLE!

Since it would be hard to confiscate all guns from every single person out there, how about we start with a little beefed up school security?

OR, call your child’s school and request numbers of how many suspensions they’ve had this year, and then ask for the number of office referrals for violent and disturbing behavior.

[Anonymous]

Although mental illness is a huge factor in gun violence, it's not the only thing, and a huge percentage (say 99.95%?) of people who are mentally ill are NOT mass shooters.

But there are red flags:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vb537a/the-wrong-conversation-about-school-shootings
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/the-warning-signs-of-a-mass-shooting/433527/


The problem though, with identifying red flags (bad grades, isolation, self harm, bursts of violence, domestic assault), is that there isn't anything that the police can do about it. However, there are things that we can do. I'm not saying they work, but they are important.

https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/prevention-programs2


....

The other thing, and this is a tricky thing to explain, because it is a male dominated statistic, is that it is even more apparent that there is a pack mentality to boys. They need a tribe and they need to have a sense of self worth that isn't gun related. Whether it be sports, art, music, science, church or even fashion: they have to have some kind of sense of belonging. They need their friends, like the Goonies or the Perfect Game.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/10-ways-to-help-boys-form-the-close-friendships-they-crave/2018/02/12/a1d2df72-06c6-11e8-94e8-e8b8600ade23_story.html
https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/heidi-stevens/ct-life-stevens-sunday-boy-friendships-0520-story.html

As a woman, I value my friendships so much, but I notice it in my boys too. They need their friends. They need to have people. When my son's best friend moved away, he was devastated-- and I only know because he mentioned it to me once. He has made a new best friend(s), but the sense of belonging is ever so important.

I wish there was more data about this. My hypothesis is that for boys, having a sport or organization that helps them socialize is so important. In a way, it's almost as if our value of the individual is hurting the male population because they need to feel part of the collective (if that makes sense at all).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Although mental illness is a huge factor in gun violence, it's not the only thing, and a huge percentage (say 99.95%?) of people who are mentally ill are NOT mass shooters.

But there are red flags:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vb537a/the-wrong-conversation-about-school-shootings
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/the-warning-signs-of-a-mass-shooting/433527/


The problem though, with identifying red flags (bad grades, isolation, self harm, bursts of violence, domestic assault), is that there isn't anything that the police can do about it. However, there are things that we can do. I'm not saying they work, but they are important.

https://www.sandyhookpromise.org/prevention-programs2


....

The other thing, and this is a tricky thing to explain, because it is a male dominated statistic, is that it is even more apparent that there is a pack mentality to boys. They need a tribe and they need to have a sense of self worth that isn't gun related. Whether it be sports, art, music, science, church or even fashion: they have to have some kind of sense of belonging. They need their friends, like the Goonies or the Perfect Game.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/10-ways-to-help-boys-form-the-close-friendships-they-crave/2018/02/12/a1d2df72-06c6-11e8-94e8-e8b8600ade23_story.html
https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/heidi-stevens/ct-life-stevens-sunday-boy-friendships-0520-story.html

As a woman, I value my friendships so much, but I notice it in my boys too. They need their friends. They need to have people. When my son's best friend moved away, he was devastated-- and I only know because he mentioned it to me once. He has made a new best friend(s), but the sense of belonging is ever so important.

I wish there was more data about this. My hypothesis is that for boys, having a sport or organization that helps them socialize is so important. In a way, it's almost as if our value of the individual is hurting the male population because they need to feel part of the collective (if that makes sense at all).

That's funny to be me because psychological literature has done nothing but reiterate that women are pack animals and do nothing alone. Shocking to see that wow, maybe the traits girls and women were derided for are in boys all along.

Second, boys in a sports or organization doesn't change the fact that other youths perpetrate isolation against the individual they see as weak or unfit. A lot of mass shooters were lones for a reason. From Columbine to Stoneman Douglas they didn't fit in and you can't make the other students accept them fully.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:right, because bulletproof clothing and gear is the answer

IT'S THE DAMN GUNS, PEOPLE!

Well, combined with parents and schools pussyfooting around discipline. Theres a post in the general Schools forum on holding schools accountable, about this. I’m an elementary teacher in LCPS and we routinely allow violent students back into school after a few-day refresher, and give them stickers when they haven’t stabbed anyone with a pencil (true story) in about a week.

+1. I'm in FCPS and it's the same scene.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
That's funny to be me because psychological literature has done nothing but reiterate that women are pack animals and do nothing alone. Shocking to see that wow, maybe the traits girls and women were derided for are in boys all along.

Second, boys in a sports or organization doesn't change the fact that other youths perpetrate isolation against the individual they see as weak or unfit. A lot of mass shooters were lones for a reason. From Columbine to Stoneman Douglas they didn't fit in and you can't make the other students accept them fully.

It's actually more like girls have BFFs and boys have packs:
http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1911103,00.html

And that boys do desire a BFF scenario:
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/ask-an-academic-the-secrets-of-boys

I read that boys really need a tribe and strong father figures from these two books (which I take with a grain of salt).

https://www.amazon.com/Boys-Should-Be-Secrets-Raising/dp/034551369X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_2/139-9287213-2435627?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=034551369X&pd_rd_r=18a8e4a0-3456-44eb-9336-9f695400c771&pd_rd_w=ds2hT&pd_rd_wg=8pTRk&pf_rd_p=a2006322-0bc0-4db9-a08e-d168c18ce6f0&pf_rd_r=Q6TD7FGKC0F5AZ5RBN2X&psc=1&refRID=Q6TD7FGKC0F5AZ5RBN2X
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1942952716/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzSzkyQ0o4MU9XSFFOJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjY5MTczMThaWldWTDJXNkJONSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMTIwODYwTFYyS0c2WFNDRFVCJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfZGV0YWlsJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Finally: I'm not saying that lone wolfs can be changed when they are biologically prone that way (Adam Lanza played little league after all-- it wasn't a magic pill to solve his many issues.) I'm saying that they are seeing that we need to reinforce their ability to create lasting friendships in whatever means possible because they long for it in the long run. And this might, just might, negate the isolation they feel if we start emphasizing the need for adult, male, BFFs:

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/a26343803/boy-friendships/
https://nyuscholars.nyu.edu/en/publications/boys-friendships-during-adolescence-intimacy-desire-and-loss

Also good reading here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/lifestyle/being-a-boy-age-8/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/lifestyle/being-a-boy-ages-11-and-12/

[Anonymous]

The bulletproof school supplies are just a false sense of security.

I get the fear. I don’t know what I will do if I ever lose a child in a random shooting.

But you’re being preyed on - these companies are profiting from your fears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child isn’t protected from an, “ it’s the guns, people!” attitude. That won’t stop a bullet. Maybe a backpack will.

Don't most school have a them out backpacks away until HS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How should I word this... this is no doubt a powerful piece, especially by the end.

I am strongly anti-gun, although I’m otherwise conservative. I am also a teacher. There’s something about the tone in the first half that comes across as parody. Can’t put my finger on it.

Pretty sure that was intentional. You were meant to feel like it was just a normal commercial, then kind of wait, what? until the kid started to run and you heard gun shots. Then you knew for sure and the whole tone changed.

Brutal to watch.

Yes, that’s definitely purposeful IMO. It starts like a normal school supplies ad for Staples, then veers off into the grotesque. Because that’s actually what’s happened to our society.

News Flash:
It’s been happening for decades, but now it’s also the white boys that are raging - and not just black boys.

Please, find me the stories of black kids committing mass shootings. They don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh my God.

I'm a teacher. That one hits so close to home.

I saw it while I was on planning yesterday and tried to watch. I made it to the part where the girl is holding scissors and you hear the gunshots. I’m not a crier and it immediately made me tear up and I had to stop. It just was too real while sitting there in school where I myself have had “joking” conversations with my kids about what we could use as weapons in our classroom if we ever had to. I watched the rest later. It’s very well done. Parents, this is reality for your kids and for us when we are at school. We have envisioned these exact scenarios many times.

What the flying f*ck

You joke about this?!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child isn’t protected from an, “ it’s the guns, people!” attitude. That won’t stop a bullet. Maybe a backpack will.

Probably one of most backward statements I've ever heard in my life! PP did you even read what you wrote???? Were you being sarcastic?

[Anonymous]

“The graphic nature of the Sandy Hook ad is intentional. The emotional pain it excavates is intentional. So is the unasked question it leaves anyone with a heart: What are you going to do to stop this?”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/09/19/trump-mcconnell-watch-this-ad-then-do-something-about-gun-violence/?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child isn’t protected from an, “ it’s the guns, people!” attitude. That won’t stop a bullet. Maybe a backpack will.

Probably one of most backward statements I've ever heard in my life! PP did you even read what you wrote???? Were you being sarcastic?

Very serious. Running prostate over the lack of action by our government won’t do anything in that moment.