I was wondering why there were so many rural and suburban schools being targeted for student on student violence.

I pondered the issue for awhile as I recalled being in a Middle School as the Assistant Principal. I was involved in lock downs and monitoring the outcomes. The school had the hardware to search children and their belongings. The Pigs were part of the process. I knew the children were not as violent as the system contended that they were, THEY WERE KIDS!!

The chatter was, they were focused on gangs and gang violence.

Never once did anyone ever discuss the causes of this increase in gang association. Not once during my service in the schools did they have children bringing guns to school, killing other children.

Returning to the  higher resourced rural and suburban schools. These schools are typically very lax on safety and security. They do not have Pigs roaming their campus. The teachers are focused on two things teaching and learning. As a result of their focus on teaching and learning they get really good results, their children are learning and making significant improvements. Some of the Pigs are their own family members.

Minimally, when the students and staff interact with them they are guaranteed of positive friendly results. The Police help them to solve any problem they might have. Further, they keep them out of trouble by issuing warnings and acting as guidance counselors. They rarely see Police in the role of the gestapo using tactics that suggest they are the enemy.

The urban and suburban higher resourced schools do not have to spend their resources on establishing mini police departments within their schools.

Their children are never handcuffed and thrown around.

The rates of suspension and expulsion are much lower than schools in under resource urban areas. The children are not harassed and discouraged from coming to school. The children know that adults are in the environment to care for them.

They are lulled into a sense of comfortability with their peers and teachers. Until the outlier occurs and there is a shooting.

They live in the most violent society in history and when violence comes to them at this level they are in a state of shock. In under resourced urban schools, the children typically get wanded and may or may not have to walk through a metal detector when they arrive at school. They are met with hostility in a highly militarized state.

The term for this type of environment is a “hardened site,” this is a military term for the environment in under resourced urban schools. Now, in some states the school allows some of their staff to bring guns.

Just what we need in this crazy environment.