Since the horrific shooting at Virginia Tech last April, campus security has become a huge issue. College campuses across the nation have been working to protect their students in case such an incident occurs again, and even Aragon is ramping up it's security measures. We'll be getting new locks on classroom doors that can be locked from the inside in case some intruder makes it into the building. It's a great thing, because after this week's incidents at St. John's University in New York, and UW Madison, I think we have a right to worry.
Personally, I feel safe at Aragon, but judging by the frequency of these occurrances, maybe that isn't a safe assumption. We'll all be going to college next year, and I think that there, at least, there will be some reason to worry. College is a lot more like the real world, and as these incidents show, it can have real-world dangers as well. One of my friends just went off to Rutgers, and there was a shooting at a mall there while she was shopping. It's scary, and I think we all need to take steps toward protection.
Short of promoting stricter gun control laws, which I fully support, but which is a tough constitutional issue, I think many colleges are doing the best possible thing to stop further shootings. What they are all concentrating on now is warning their students as quickly as possible. And guess how they're doing it... text messages and facebook.
I think that it's great that more people are finally realizing just how useful technology can be. We all text message, so what better way could there be for adults to get our attention than through a type of communication that we already use--and and use a lot? Actually, it surprises me that nobody has thought of it before. At St. John's University in New York, the administration was able to notify all of its students via text message in less than 18 minutes. At Virginia Tech, it took well over two hours for any notifications to be sent out. And those were sent through email, which students might or might not have checked.
I think it's a great idea. Why should schools spend so much time fighting technology that they could just as easily put to good use? In addition to safety warnings, there are so many other things that they could text about. What about announcements? homework assignments? anything. If they want our attention maybe they should use resources that we pay attention to. I think schools should stop banning cell phones and start encouraging them, at least in some areas.
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Personally, I feel really safe at Aragon, and if our students were to get hurt by someone from the outside, I would be terribly shocked. But anyway, I don't see why our school discourages the use of certain technologies, like Facebook, MySpace, text messaging, whatever. I don't use this kind of stuff, but I know a lot of people who do. Why not take advantage of this kind of technology? I don't know the answer, and I'm not going to ask our stubborn administration. But I don't think it's realistic for Aragon to start encouraging cell phone use anytime soon.
I agree that we're fairly safe at Aragon and that it's unlikely that any schools will actively encourage the use of things like cell phones, myspace and facebook, but it seems like they could allow access to them and, in some cases, use them to send messages such as these. The actual chances of a school shooting are extremely slim, and the addition of stricter gun control laws would hardly eliminate this small threat. In fact, the enforcement of gun control laws means that security may not have ready access to firearms while the criminals, such as the people who do commit these school shootings, could fairly easily obtain them from the black market or outside the state.
While I agree that Aragon is mostly safe, I have to admit, sometimes scenes of school shootings do cross my mind. And it doesn’t help to hear of all these awful shootings. Just last week, a friend my mine returned to visit from Arizona State. Someone had just stabbed to death her roommate in the middle of the night. It just goes to show you never know who's out there. However, Elle pointed out the enormous difference between sending out messages in text messages and in emails. The faster the administration informs students of a danger on campus the better, so why not allow technology if it can help save lives? I do think the cell phone regulations at Aragon are reasonable. Even though, students are not allowed to even have a cell phone out during the school day (even during passing periods and lunch), many times teachers and administrators don’t seem to enforce this rule very much. As long as the students are respectful of the teacher’s time in the classroom by turning off distracting technology, I believe it’s perfectly fine to be using cell phones at other times.
In regards to gun control laws, I agree with Keith. They can backfire. Criminals are people who don't follow laws, so why would they or all people abide by the gun control laws? I don't think stricter gun control laws are the answer to gun violence.
I don't think there is any real way to totally prevent school shootings. Like Keith said, people can get guns and weapons from the black market etc.
I feel pretty safe at Aragon. I think that worrying about there being a school shooting is like worrying about someone attacking you while you sleep. It's highly unlikely, and there's really nothing you can do about it, so there's no real sense in worrying about it.
like everyone else who commented, I feel pretty safe at Aragon. Even if stricter gun control laws are passed,I don't think it will prevent school shootings because the people who do the shootings are usually pretty determined and plan out everything, so if they need a weapon they'll get it (illegally or not). I think its great that St. John's University was able to notify everyone quickly through text messaging, but I don't agree that school should start encouraging cell phones. Most students already carry their cell phones everywhere so its unnecessary to encourage them. Also, encouraging cell phones would give students excuses to bring them to class and text during class. On the other hand, I don't think there should be a ban on cell phones, because it would be impossible to enforce and cell phones allow students to communicate with their parents when they need to be picked up and other important things. I think cell phone use should only be restricted during class because that is the only time when its use becomes problematic.
Why do I feel safe at Aragon? Maybe the cameras? Maybe the campus aides walking around every period? Maybe it is just cause where we live. But in reality, I think I just feel safe from being shot at. Like Justin said, you can not prevent gun shootings however I think our school has done a pretty good job at preventing them so far, but they do not prevent the gang relations present at our school. So do I feel totally safe, of course not but I know that when I hear gun shots that will be enough of a message for me to get out of there, I will not wait to for the "You've got mail" to act.
As technology moves forward, the times have to keep up. According to Tuscaloosanews.com,
“Nearly every major college and university in the country is either in the process of implementing a text message warning system or seriously considering do it," said S. Daniel Carter, senior vice president of Security on Campus, a nonprofit organization based in King of Prussia, Pa., that pushes for safer college campuses.
- http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20070928/NEWS/709280327/1007/TL02
If colleges can do it, why can't we? I agree with Jojo's point that as long as students use technology in a respectful manner, it should be fine to use cell phones outside of class.
Not that I feel particularly paranoid at Aragon; I agree that it feels like a safe place. However, options are good...
Plus, perhaps this is mind-numbingly naive, but maybe we should try to put some--if not just as much--effort towards preventing students from feeling like they need to shoot their peers as we put into protecting the students in the first place.
As we learned in APES...prevention is better than control!
I agree that Aragon is a safe place, that prevention is better than control and that despite this we should look into quick methods to alert students.
However, I do not believe that texting or messaging alerts would be the only answer. This seems like a great idea, but the opportunity to catch ones attention would be undeniably tempting for advertisements and other announcements. Given the chance to use text messaging or the internet as a fast way of communication, I think that some restriction would have to be placed on the uses.
Imagine, per say, that Aragon started using this as a new way of communicating with students. The importance of the messages sent out might diminish over time, simply because Aragon is such a safe place.
The messages that were once reserved for alerts shooting such as
There is a shooting on campus. Return to your classrooms. Lock-down
might become
Don't forget to return your library books
to
Key Club meeting this week
and then it could even turn into the much dreaded
It's a haaaaaaaaaaaaappy Tuesday
The point is, that the importance of these messages would diminish and eventually people might begin to disregard text messages.
This happened with emails and spam.
Of course, there would always be a new form of communication that was used, but the switch for schools might lag behind.
There should be several ways of informing students about school safety information and these methods should be restricted.
~Annie C
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