Drilling in the terror

Drilling+in+the+terror

The hallways are littered with students covered in what appears to be blood while noises of gunfire can be heard in the distance. The classroom door is locked and as the sounds grow closer, you realize there is no place to hide. A sense of panic overwhelms you as the shooter is spotted rounding the corner, and you are forced to remind yourself: this is just a drill.

In Missouri, a new law requires schools to participate in mandatory active shooter response training in order to create policies for how teachers and police officers respond to threats, according to an article by Business Insider.

The drills include realistic gunfire and bodies of students strewn along the hallways covered in fake blood. Strong acting is generally not required, seeing as teachers and students are typically shaken to the point of tears and sobbing.

These drills are clearly excessive and unproductive. Not only do they fail to teach any real lessons to students or staff members, but they also force young students to suffer unnecessary trauma by putting them through a horrific event that no one should have to experience first-hand – real or not.

Last month, Troy Buchanan High School in Missouri allowed their recent active shooter drill to be documented by the media. The drill involved three men armed with shotguns and semi-automatic rifles storming into the school through three different doors. As they began to fire blanks, teachers quickly herded students into classrooms and locked their doors. The shooters ran down the hallways, trying every door and firing on anyone in sight. By the time officers arrived with their guns drawn three minutes later, many of the students had been ‘shot,’ according to an article by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Even in this best-case scenario where police officers arrived only three minutes after ‘the shooting’ began, the ground was already covered with the bodies of students.

If anything, this drill demonstrates that further action must be taken by staff members in order to protect their students, instead of waiting in their rooms for people with guns and badges to show up to save the day.

Missouri is not the only state to implement laws such as this. Last year, in El Paso, Texas, screams and gunshots echoed through the hallways of Eastlake High School, as an act of terror was simulated without any warning to students, staff or parents, according to an article by The Huffington Post. In this case, students believed the attack was real and many sent text messages to parents about the situation, creating unnecessary anxiety and panic.  

Despite the traumatic impacts of the drill, proponents of the law argue that the drills are actually very effective by providing school officials and teachers with a chance to practice what they would do in this type of scenario.

Apparently, teachers need to practice how to close a door all of the way, and how to dial 911. 

These drills are filled with screams and tears, and although they are simulations, the drills instill real trauma within students. This changes the way a child perceives what places are safe. After an experience like this, students begin to carry around a sense of fear when they walk down the hallways. This creates an uncomfortable and edgy environment, despite the fact that schools remain one of the safest places for children and teens.

These bizarre and dramatic drills are a wasteful use of resources, and have yet to be proven effective. They also contribute to the popular belief that shootings pose a serious threat to society despite evidence that proves mass shootings are no more common than they have been in the past decades, according to the National Review.

Traumatizing students in order to prepare them for a scenario that will likely never happen is an ignorant practice that results in far more harm than good.  

-Ashley Lynn Fisher is a junior English major from Gig Harbor. She can be contacted at 335-2290 or by [email protected]. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of the staff of The Daily Evergreen or those of Student Publications.