Are Guns for Teachers a Good Idea?
A teacher from Fayetteville, Arkansas Trey Antonetti, posted some words worth pondering in the wake of another school shooting: He said:
To those in the general public screaming “Arm the teachers! Give the teachers guns!”…let me get this straight… You don’t trust us to teach our content — there are so many bills going to state legislatures undermining the expertise teachers bring to the field. We need to publish a year’s worth of lesson plans because you don’t believe we’re actually teaching, right?
You don’t trust us when we say your student is the reason they’re failing when they are skipping class, aren’t submitting assignments, are playing both sides of the field and are dropping the ball, but it must be the teacher’s fault, right?
You don’t trust us to hold your student accountable for their behavior, standing firm on commitments and expectations, because it’s the teacher asking too much, right? You don’t trust us to discipline students when they act out or abuse the system, because they’re precious little angels, and we’re the problem, right? But you’ll trust us, no…EXPECT us to take a bullet for them when the system – when, at this point, not if – fails them.
A Matter of Trust?
And NOW you’re saying you trust us, trust me, to add firearm safety and defensive firearm training to my plate? You don’t trust me to execute a lesson plan but you’ll trust me to execute an intruder?
Incredible teachers are leaving the field every day. Phenomenal teachers are barely hanging on as they go through our day to day. Accredited programs and universities all over the country are closing their education programs because no one is enrolling.
When your kids, or grandkids, nieces, and nephews are being taught by actual under-trained people who are the only option to hire, will that make you happy? I mean…at least they’ll have guns…right?
