Terror Education

I could say, at my most skeptical and disillusioned, that all education is similar in substance, if not in literal content, to the learning prank pulled by a group of teachers in Tennessee last week. But I won't get into that. Now.

Fear is a powerful tool. One that can be used for learning, and one that creates environments where learning - or, to be more specific, intellectual and emotional growth - is impossible. The three most significant variables seem to be the duration of the fear experience, the intensity or immediacy of the threat, and the individual or collective tools/instincts for dealing with the threat.

Some teachers thought it would be a good idea - a "learning experience", if you will - to lock some 5th graders up in a dark room and start banging on the door, yelling threats at them, as a way to provoke the students into a frank and heartfelt discussion of school attacks. Apparently, the students had been warned about a "prank" before their weekend retreat, but they were told that this exercise was not a drill.

First, I don't think scaring the shit out of some kids really qualifies as a prank. You can call it semantics, but usually pranks are funny for both parties, once the joke is out. None of the students...well, actually, who knows what the students think? Their parents are fucking freaking!

Second, no one ever learns anything from a drill. I've been through a thousand fire drills, a few post-911 office disaster drills, a million in-flight emergency drills, and a bunch of spelling drills. I'm sure somewhere in the back of my mind, I can connect the stop-drop-and-roll mantra into action. I'm sure I could remember to line up and meet the rest of my team at the designated meeting point. I know that I'm supposed to put on my oxygen mask, and that whole "i" before "e" except after "c" thing is pretty clear.

But, when called to act, will I know what to do?

In a real fire, no matter where I am, I'm getting the fuck out! Line or no line, meeting point or no meeting point, I will push/trample/kill anyone in my way. No drill is preparing me for that, that is the point when my instinct to live will take over anything else.
Same in an airplane. If we're crashing, maybe I'll remember to put on my mask as we descend, but I can tell you for sure that I'm going to be the first, second or third person out that fucking exit door! Watch out, bitches.
If somehow my office were under seige, I can pretty much guarantee that I'm not waiting anywhere for my team, or for instructions from the fire department. I'm taking the stairs, and I'm running like hell, and I'm not stopping until I'm far away from buildings and I have a good view of the impending disaster. No joke.
Spelling, well... Let's just say I know how to spell. But I also know how to read, and I am a word-nerd, so I did a little extracurricular training.

Anywho...

My point is that the drills are basically a joke - you tell someone that it doesn't matter, and they're going to maybe store half the information you just gave them until they "need it" and they're going to never remember the rest having ever gone through their mind in the first place.

So, I would argue that the idea of drilling kids on how to react to a violent kid-killer situation is probably unrealistic at best, a total waste of time at worst.

If the kids were going to be able to use this experience as a learning tool, they probably would have needed to know what to expect a little more, but they wouldn't remember shit if it was a drill.

But plain common sense for the teacher - call the fucking parents and let them know before you plan to do this! If they want to give their kid the inside track so that you don't have 60 hyperventilating, asthmatic, anal expulsive 11 year olds crying and dying in a cabin on some school trip, then that's their option. They can mediate the impact if they choose.

They didn't ask. That's just assinine.

I also wonder how effective the teachers expected to be when the threat of violence on school campuses is partly a result of an interminable, unacknowledged, low-level fear of large-scale terrorist acts (among other things) pervading our entire culture.

And, just because I have to say this, no one is directly addressing the factors that 1) can prepare individuals and groups in this country to deal with the most obvious and destructive terror threats, or 2) acknowledge the psychological impact that this interpretation of reality is creating in the hearts and minds of our children and their parents.

No wonder we have devolved into consumption-blinded, intellectually self-censoring, politically atrophied, pseudo-citizens.

I dispute the choice of moment, the method and the execution of this "prank", but I applaud the teachers for making an attempt to arm their students with the tools necessary to prevent their own deaths. That's a good tool to have.

But, I wonder, what exactly were these teachers going to advocate that the kids do in that situation? Run? Hide? Stop, drop and roll?

What would you do?

Coming to the answer will reveal exactly who you are, like it, or not.