Schools are designed for fire safety, heating/cooling, efficient use....should we be considering more about the safety of the school?



I read an interesting article about fire safety and the efforts put in to make schools redundant and completely safe....which has lead to great improvement in the number of fires and their lethality.



Maybe we need to think twice about school design.



I thought this article was interesting talking about the role of LEO's and school protection.

http://www.policeone.com/active-shoo...emy-is-denial/

 

They should implant RFID's in students and staff. Then, set up booby traps for people who don't have them. Activate the traps from 30 minutes before to 30 minutes after school. I think poison darts with explosive tips should be just swell.

 

I don't mean to downplay the events that occurred, but using the recent Connecticut incident as an example, the guy was able to shoot his way into the school. I don't see a few isolated events over the last decade warranting enough changes in schools to simply attempt to prevent something from happening. Nothing is fool proof, and if a student want to commit mass murder it's incredibly easy to do so if they plan it out. Even if you install metal detectors in the millions of schools in America, it will still happen.

 

The problem is with the society (faltering tradition and the rise of atheism and broken parent households) and the gloomy economy. Not school security. I don't think any effective construction can be made.



Maybe it's because I'm European but a lot of American kids in schools just plain suck. At least they did in my high school. They were smart but had no substance, closed-minded, stuck-up, self-centered, no qualities, no generosity, just plain weird. I didn't believe my eyes and ears until I saw what went on inside of a football team bus. Uncontrolled undisciplined lunatics.



Columbine was a perfect example of social outcasts.

 

really, HKC? Surely you aren't suggesting the rest of the world is absent of these people. The IRA, the massive Beslan school hostage, France in general. You'll find this anywhere in the world, it's not "American kids" - but I do agree it's a problem with society. Just like any generation (roaring 20s, flower children, etc) we have our problem children.

 

I'm not saying that it doesn't exist in other places in the world, but definitely MUCH less because they take it MUCH more seriously.



For example to combat social inequalities and cliques, each kid 4+years of age wears customary uniforms all the way up to high school and in college if they're in the military academy. If their shirts are not tucked in or their ties are wrinkled, their parents are notified. They share the same classmates (about 25 to be exact) K-12.



On top of that, students that fail exams are able to retake them up to three times to pass the class. Here, students are separated by the "Gifted and Talented Program", "Communications Arts Program", "Magnet Program" and alphabetized by intelligence levels in middle schools. Then there's the SAT which has very little to do with school.



I grew up there mang. You've traveled there. You will see 5-year-olds+ walking on foot to school, alone. When I saw that with my own eyes, I couldn't believe my whits and the people I was with thought I was crazy for making a big fuss out of it.



Nothing against American kids, but I do see why the system leads to social inequalities. There are some really filthy brought up kids here. Mom and dad don't come home until late and don't have time. I'm not saying it's utopia but family is less meaningful here than in other parts. There was a shooting like this last year in Germany somewhere... But let's face it, these massacres happened weeks apart by killers of a similar age, and months apart from another massacre, and 1 year apart from Gabby Giffords which was another year apart from the VA Tech shootings. It's become expected here. I know it's a far bigger place, but it's bound by the same school system lacking sufficient care and education for kids that don't have it at home.

 

The problem is crazy people. We should put crazy detectors at all school entrances. When a crazy person walks into the school, a Wyl-E-Coyote trap box drops down from the ceiling.



You can't design around crazy. Armed teachers planting a nine-cent pill in the cranium of a homicidal maniac is a 100% sure way to stop a mass murder at school. Just sayin.

 

HKC... where have you lived in the U.S. besides D.C.?

 

Nowhere except for Florida. But I did go to school here for most of my life. That's not to undermine the quality of schools in my county. They are good schools, but VERY socially split as like any school in the U.S. (Mean Girls being a perfect example). Montgomery County is the 10th richest county in the United States, Howard (5th) is 30 minutes north of me (and where I'd like to live). Loudoun (1st) and Fairfax (2nd) is 30 minutes south of me. I live in a very intelligible place. Any school in any of these counties is a prime example of a fully developed highly capable 1st world consortium.



Just to remind you that 40% of U.S. kids go to college anyways compared to 95% in Poland or 70% in France. How can that be justified? I knew students so bright but could not attend for a plethora of reasons, one being because they did not believe in themselves, didn't believe they had the grades and felt split up from their opportune counterparts.





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n8Dml3g-TE

 

That was my point. I have never been to D.C. but the stats you just gave confirm my suspicion that it is likely NOT the typical school environment for the U.S.



Poland: 38M

France: 65M

California: 38M

United States: 312M



Apples != Oranges