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I'm from Europe. I mostly clicked on the link to find out what a shooter drill is. I'm baffled by the article and the comments in this thread. Having to have dr

I'm from Europe. I mostly clicked on the link to find out what a shooter drill is. I'm baffled by the article and the comments in this thread. Having to have drills for school shootings is apparently considered a normal part of life in the US.

dx87 8y ago
It's not. I don't know anyone that's ever been through an active shooter drill. The closest I know of is the college my wife taught at had an optional hour long seminar for teachers.
- cribbles 8y ago
  Nearly 95 percent of public schools had lockdown drills as of 2015-16.[1] I don't know anyone who's been through one either, but I'm an adult, and our generation just missed the cutoff. [1] https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017122.pdf https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017122.pdf, quoted in https://medium.com/s/youthnow/the-response-to-school-shootings-may-be-a-misfire-active-shooter-drills-teachers-students-6acb56418062 https://medium.com/s/youthnow/the-response-to-school-shootin....
  - Duladian 8y ago
    I went through the public school system and I remember having lockdown drills from 1997 onward. Teachers just locked the doors and continued teaching until the all clear was announced and they unlocked the door. In 2014 I was working IT for a private high school which had an active shooter drill on a yearly basis. I was told they started it two years prior because a student came onto campus with a handgun. Both in southern California.
- MFLoon 8y ago
  Sadly you're mistaken. Not many current American adults experienced them growing up even though school shootings have been happening for decades, but in recent years they've started to become as commonplace as fire drills in American primary schools. "Nine out of ten public schools now drill students and teachers to respond to mass shootings, according to the National Center for Education Statistics." [regrettably via Vox: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/16/17016382/school-shooting-drills-training https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/16/17016382/s... but still, seems legit]
  - CompanionCuuube 8y ago
    The problem is that these mass shooting drills are taken to the extreme, way beyond what is necessary to prepare them. If they were treated more like fire drills, it wouldn't be nearly the impact on students and faculty as they currently are.
- asark 8y ago
  Ask a current middle or high schooler if they have. Probably, the answer will be yes. Source: I know an awful lot of teachers. IMO the drills are dumb as hell and indefensible considering how traumatic they are (reports of teachers breaking down crying afterward, let alone students) and how unlikely mass indiscriminate shooting[0] is at a school, even in the US. The old less-insane and less "real" teacher-only drills were probably enough, considering how harmful this alternative is. [0] A distressingly large percentage of students will be near some kind of gunfire while at school, yes—a whole lot smaller percentage will experience the sort that these drills address. The more common variety that way more will hear or see are targeted (gang, grudge, whatever) shootings on or near school property, not the mass shootings these drills are designed to prepare them for.
astrea 8y ago
Unfortunately, for the sake of some people's cowboy fantasies, a normal thing it shall stay.
manfredo 8y ago
It's not. I've never had one of these and none of my co-workers have had one. Stuff like this is ridiculous to Americans, too.

dx87 8y ago

It's not. I don't know anyone that's ever been through an active shooter drill. The closest I know of is the college my wife taught at had an optional hour long seminar for teachers.

cribbles 8y ago
Nearly 95 percent of public schools had lockdown drills as of 2015-16.[1] I don't know anyone who's been through one either, but I'm an adult, and our generation just missed the cutoff. [1] https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017122.pdf https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2017/2017122.pdf, quoted in https://medium.com/s/youthnow/the-response-to-school-shootings-may-be-a-misfire-active-shooter-drills-teachers-students-6acb56418062 https://medium.com/s/youthnow/the-response-to-school-shootin....
- Duladian 8y ago
  I went through the public school system and I remember having lockdown drills from 1997 onward. Teachers just locked the doors and continued teaching until the all clear was announced and they unlocked the door. In 2014 I was working IT for a private high school which had an active shooter drill on a yearly basis. I was told they started it two years prior because a student came onto campus with a handgun. Both in southern California.
MFLoon 8y ago
Sadly you're mistaken. Not many current American adults experienced them growing up even though school shootings have been happening for decades, but in recent years they've started to become as commonplace as fire drills in American primary schools. "Nine out of ten public schools now drill students and teachers to respond to mass shootings, according to the National Center for Education Statistics." [regrettably via Vox: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/16/17016382/school-shooting-drills-training https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/2/16/17016382/s... but still, seems legit]
- CompanionCuuube 8y ago
  The problem is that these mass shooting drills are taken to the extreme, way beyond what is necessary to prepare them. If they were treated more like fire drills, it wouldn't be nearly the impact on students and faculty as they currently are.
asark 8y ago
Ask a current middle or high schooler if they have. Probably, the answer will be yes. Source: I know an awful lot of teachers. IMO the drills are dumb as hell and indefensible considering how traumatic they are (reports of teachers breaking down crying afterward, let alone students) and how unlikely mass indiscriminate shooting[0] is at a school, even in the US. The old less-insane and less "real" teacher-only drills were probably enough, considering how harmful this alternative is. [0] A distressingly large percentage of students will be near some kind of gunfire while at school, yes—a whole lot smaller percentage will experience the sort that these drills address. The more common variety that way more will hear or see are targeted (gang, grudge, whatever) shootings on or near school property, not the mass shootings these drills are designed to prepare them for.

astrea 8y ago

Unfortunately, for the sake of some people's cowboy fantasies, a normal thing it shall stay.

manfredo 8y ago

It's not. I've never had one of these and none of my co-workers have had one. Stuff like this is ridiculous to Americans, too.