It struck schools like a bolt of lightening. Due to the gradual rise in school shootings and the spike in media coverage of them, schools across the country have taken a look at their safety protocols and made changes. The Department of Homeland Security has begun recommending the ‘Run Hide Fight’ protocol, which is now being implemented at schools all over the United States. 

But what are these protocols teaching kids in schools? Being prepared for school shootings sends the wrong message to students, who have been victims of these tragedies too many times. As a student, these implemented protocols leave a bitter taste in my mouth. 

We shouldn’t be teaching kids that preparing for school shootings is going to make them stop, or that it is the best way to handle the situation of increasing mass shootings in our country. We shouldn’t be teaching them to sweep mass casualties under the carpet. We shouldn’t be teaching them to work in a cycle. Mass shooting, review lock down drill procedures, forget, repeat. 

The generation growing up in the golden era of mass shootings is becoming numb to them. I wasn’t at all surprised about the high school shooting in Parkland, Florida that occurred in February. The impact school shootings that end in mass casualties should have on students including myself is massive. Unfortunately, we read the tweets and we mention it to our peers, and we forget about it a week later. 

This vicious cycle our country is in is disgusting. While we are learning about lock down drills, parents are still mourning the child they lost to a shooting that’s now a distant memory to us. 

Telling students to prepare for a school shooting tells them that there isn’t a way to prevent them. As young people, it’s now become our responsibility to educate ourselves on how to prevent school shootings. 

To me, this isn’t an issue of political preference, it shouldn’t be. To me, it’s an issue of preventing mass shootings of minors at a place of education, instead of waiting for them to happen.