TRI In The News
To Prevent School Shootings
From One News Now
Original article available here
Following yet another school shooting, this time in Ohio, the president of The Rutherford Institute says more heavy-handed school policies and metal detectors are not the answer.
According to John Whitehead, overly strict rules, heightened security, and zero-tolerance policies are not working to quell the growing number of school shootings. In today's fast-paced world, he suggests that teachers and parents need to stop and step back.
"What we really need is the schools and parents ... to stop for a moment, think, and say listen to the kids, because again, a number of the shooters have said I would've told somebody; I just didn't have anybody to talk to," the attorney explains.
He predicts the instinctive response to this latest incident will be to appease parents by adopting measures that provide the appearance of increased security, but Whitehead recommends an alternative.
"Start having periods where kids can come in and air their grievances, talk it out -- just a free-for-all," he urges. "Just let kids express their angst, even against the school -- whoever. They might be mad at their parents, whatever. But get it out. The problem is when people bottle things up."
In his commentary "Making Sense of School Shootings," Whitehead cites Dr. James P. Comer, professor of psychiatry at Yale University's Child Study Center. He says, "We're going to have to work at systematically recreating the critical elements of community that once existed naturally." That, argues Comer, is what will treat the damage done to the next generation.
