Give Me Results!

Good morning and welcome to Friday Feeling. All month, we’re focusing on teens and the trials they face as they move toward being adults. Today, it’s all about school violence and exactly what everyone can do to curtail school violence.

One of the first things we hear from reporters and repeated over and over by those who have just experienced school violence is the demand that they want results… now, immediately, this very instant. Unfortunately, there is no do over wand in the background to undo the violence you’ve just experienced. There is no magical, instant solution to the problem.
But I want this fixed. NOW!
There we go with that screaming thing again. In my normal voice, I’ll always repeat these words. “There is no magical formula to solve this problem. This is a multi-faceted issue that has been allowed to grow while politicians focus on what their constituents are demanding—dealing with the tool rather than the problem.
Results that are needed will take a lot of time. They will require the cooperation of everyone on both sides of this issue. Those individuals will need patience and the knowledge that they will never come up with a perfect solution but they can find a viable one.
What we need are parents remaining involved with their children’s lives, especially when they’re teens. We need teachers, administrators, law enforcement, and lawmakers to understand this isn’t a gun problem but a human problem. There are many common factors all school shooters have and lumping them into the “mentally ill” group doesn’t solve the problems nor does it offer us a solution to the fast growing problem of school violence.
First, we need to examine the size of our high schools. These institutions of learning are often the only one in a district. Students move from a couple of dozen elementary schools, into three to four middle/junior high schools, and finally to the single high school in a district. This means you’re bringing together teens who know up to three-quarters of their classmates and their schedules have shoved them all into the same room, instead of with the people they’ve known pretty much all their lives.
That’s an expensive proposition that will definitely upset working adults, as their property taxes will increase to build the new schools.
Another solution is to understand that not all students learn at the same rate. Once upon a time, way back in the dark ages of the seventies, my high school separated students according to their abilities—average learners, above average learners, and the ultra-smart kids. Somewhere along the line, this was deemed unfair and students are now in classes where they’re bored out of their skulls or overwhelmed and can’t keep up because the pace is set for the midline learning ability. Instead of deciding we have to give everyone an equal chance, we embrace the idea that everyone is not equal. Instead of having classes where students do nothing but worksheets, we embrace new technology and use electronic text books, so the student can read the lesson and absorb the information. Believe me, an ebook that received updates is far cheaper than a print book that’s replaced annually.
We need to step back and admit the social experiment of the late seventies is a massive failure. Students need to learn about history and government, current events and civics, not social studies where they only get a brief lesson on all of these subjects that leaves them with no idea of the whole story.
Part of this solution should also be giving the teachers not just the tools to identify problems in their classroom but ways to deal with it and present solutions without expecting them to be a nanny. Another part will be students accepting that they are in that classroom to learn the subject and they need to be prepared. They also need to do more than sit in chairs and zone out while thinking about how long it will be before they can get on their phone and connect with social media.
What we need in schools is a friendly learning environment. That won’t happen as long everyone demands their way is the only way and refuses to listen to options.


About K.C. Sprayberry
Living a dream she’s had since she first discovered the magic of books. K.C. Sprayberry traveled the U.S. and Europe before finally settling in the mountains of Northwest Georgia. She’s been married to her soulmate for nearly a quarter of a century and they enjoy spoiling their grandchildren along with many other activities.
A multi-genre author, K.C. Sprayberry is always on the hunt for new stories. Inspiration strikes at the weirdest times and drives her to grab notebook and pen to jot down her ideas. Those close to her swear nothing or no one is safe if she’s smiling gently in a corner and watching those in the same room interact. Her observations have often given her ideas for her next story, set not only in the South but wherever the characters demand they settle.

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