It was show-and-tell in the elementary school class. This is one of the fun times at school. Students tell of new babies in families, vacations, presents and parties. They bring toys and pictures and books, and occasionally embarrass parents who are fortunately absent from the event.
A third-grade student got up to tell the class that his older brother, who is in the 10th grade, got in a fight while he was at school. Another student raised his hand and asked a question: "Who won?" Before anyone could answer the teacher interrupted the conversation. "No one won. If you fight, you are both losers. No one who fights is a winner."All of this caused a bit of a commotion in the classroom. The kids all seemed to be talking at once. The language was violent. It was about smashing and wasting and stomping and . . . When the noise died down a bit one student seemed to want to make the last pronouncement. "If I was him, I would pull out my gun (he named a specific kind of gun) and . . . "
The teacher interrupted again. It was hard for her to keep her cool. "You would not pull out a gun, and we will not talk that way in this classroom. If you are going to talk that way, you can go somewhere else."
After the teacher's outburst, the class quieted down a bit and were told in a calmer voice that there would be no more talking about violence in this classroom. "It just isn't the way we solve problems."
I'm sure this teacher is under no illusion that her outburst did any good. Her pronouncement that violence isn't the way to solve problems is countered by too many other messages from TV programs, movies, newscasts and even from homes that tell children that violence is the way. She probably wonders with the rest of us where a third-grade student would get the idea that the use of a gun to solve a problem is acceptable. We are not only inclined to ask where a student would get this idea but where the rest of the students were taught to agree that gun use is a good idea.
I wonder if this idea basically comes from a home much different than the one I grew up in. Does the student who suggested pulling a gun hear this at home? Is it his parents that our Legislature just helped by passing a law that will make it easier to get permission to carry a concealed weapon? Is it his parents who opposed the idea that cities in Utah should have more power to make gun laws and not be at the mercy of legislative mandates? One can't help but wonder about the message that weapon-carrying parent sends to a child. Is it the message that guns can solve problems?
I don't think that I'm the only person who is worried. According to the 26th annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, the most frequently mentioned school problem in the U.S. is the growth of fighting and violence. The people surveyed cited a web of causes for violence. Easy available weapons was cited as a cause by 72 percent of those polled. The causes listed ahead of weapon availability related to gangs and drugs.
The trend is instructive. In the 1985 survey, only 1 percent of those surveyed mentioned fighting/violence as a major problem. Now this problem is at the top of the list, and third-graders for show-and-tell tell of fights, and a third-grade student responds by saying he would pull out a gun. This is in Utah in a good school.
The solutions to the problem don't seem clear. Those who answered the survey last fall were asked a second question. "How effective do you think each of the following measures would be in reducing violence in the public schools?" The data show that the highest vote getter is the punitive approach. There were 86 percent who favored "Stronger penalties for possession of weapons by students." More gun control did not make the list of solutions.
We all know that the problem is more than guns. It is an attitude that we need to get tough. We need to get tough with those who cut us off on the freeway, those who cheat on welfare, those who can't find jobs, those who are different, those who want more wilderness, those who want free access to guns and those who want restricted access to guns. Maybe it's the wants that are the problem. We all want what is best for us and often don't ask about what is best for our kids or for our society.
Perhaps what our third-grader didn't understand is that hurting someone with a gun hurts us all. When it happens, people react with calls for stricter laws, more punishment and a society that is less free. It isn't a question of fighting to solve a personal problem. It is a question of avoiding a fight to save society, to preserve freedom.
Show and tell is the best time of the day in school. Students show that they hear more that we think. They tell about happy times when problems are solved peacefully if we show them that this is the best way to live. They tell about solving problems with guns if we show them that problems are solved this way.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
How effective do you think each of the following measures sould be in reducing violence in the public schools
Very Somewhat Not very Not at all Don't
Measure effective effective effective effective know
Stronger penalties for
possession of weapons
by students 86% 8% 3% 2% 1%
Training school staffs in
how to deal with student
violence 72 20 5 2 1
More vocational or job-
training courses in
public schools 67 25 7 1 *
Drug and alcohol abuse
programs for students 66 23 7 3 1
Values and ethics education
for students 60 27 9 3 1
Education designed to reduce
racial and ethnic tensions 57 27 10 4 2
Courses offered by the public
schools in how to be a
good parent 51 28 15 5 1
Conflict education for
students 45 35 11 3 6
*Less than one-half of 1%