What a Child Knows in 2006

eldragon · Aug 17, 2006

When I was a kid, we practiced fire drills and tornado drills. My daughters school does too, but they have added a new drill:

The Intruder Drill.

It's called a code blue, and when an intruder enters the school, the teachers turn out the lights, draw the window shades and everyone hides. If you happen to be in the restroom when the code is called, you hide in a bathroom stall, lock the door and pull your legs and feet up on the toilet. If someone comes into the bathroom, you stay quiet, making sure you do not gasp or make other noises that might alert the intruder that you are in there.

I know it's all precautionary, and it's a good thing, but isn't it sad that we live in a world where our elementary school children have to be subjected to these things?

We had boogie men in our imaginations and in our closets, but kids nowadays have them walking into their schools.

Godfather · Aug 17, 2006

We do a fire drill about once a year, and thats it really.

Provrb1810meggy · Aug 17, 2006

When I was in elementary school (let's see, over 3 years ago) we never had anything of the sort, and we never did in middle school either. We have fire drills every month and I remember once in my life we had a tornado drill.

LloydBrown · Aug 17, 2006

On another board I visit, they talk about Zombie apocalypse survival plans. It usually involves shotguns and malls.

It's a role-playing board, but really--who hasn't thought about things like that before?

Mayor of Moronia · Aug 17, 2006

Elect me Emperor of America and I promise to end intruders forever....and nuisance phonecalls, too.

Mayor of Moronia · Aug 17, 2006

Pam

The boogiemen have always been around. The difference is when I was a kid the whole freakin world was in your business 24/7. Boogiemen couldnt get close to you without half the town knowing about it immediately. It's no exaggeration. If I rode to school to shoot some baskets my mom would get reports the whole way, there and back.

eldragon · Aug 17, 2006

True. I know I couldn't get away with anything without my dad being told.

I wonder how often an intruder enters the school.

Mayor of Moronia · Aug 17, 2006

There is such mayhem in the local schools here that I suspect no one knows who's intruding. The inmates run the asylum, so to speak.

Christine N. · Aug 17, 2006

That's weird. Not weird, but the schools I work in don't have that drill. State law says that they have to have a fire drill once a month, so I've been through that... and the canine locker searches in the middle schools, where everyone has to stay in the classrooms until it's over. Not even bathroom trips. I've been through a few of those. They didn't have them when I was in school.

eldragon · Aug 17, 2006

Yeah, and this is a rural school in Mississippi, I'm talking about.

We have some crime, but nothing like a city would.

dclary · Aug 17, 2006

My mother, Mrs. Connor, taught me the intruder drill a long time ago.

Best Regards,
John

Peggy · Aug 17, 2006

eldragon said:
It's called a code blue, and when an intruder enters the school, the teachers turn out the lights, draw the window shades and everyone hides. If you happen to be in the restroom when the code is called, you hide in a bathroom stall, lock the door and pull your legs and feet up on the toilet. If someone comes into the bathroom, you stay quiet, making sure you do not gasp or make other noises that might alert the intruder that you are in there.

Just the drill sounds really scary to me.

Are intruders in schools really such a common problem? My impression from the news is that it's extraordinarily rare.

kappapi99 · Aug 17, 2006

and people wonder why we homeschool...

KP

Peggy · Aug 17, 2006

kappapi99 said:
and people wonder why we homeschool...

KP

You mean you don't include home invasion drills in your curriculum?

kappapi99 · Aug 17, 2006

Peggy said:
You mean you don't include home invasion drills in your curriculum?

well, between the fire drills, tornado drills, a-bomb drills, hurricane drills, and lost power drills, I just cannot seem to find the time...

writerterri · Aug 17, 2006

If it will save their lives, then I'm not against it. But don't they mean a shooter at the school? Kids already duck and hide when they hear gun shots anyway so why not practice it?

deacon · Aug 17, 2006

dclary said:
My mother, Mrs. Connor, taught me the intruder drill a long time ago.

Best Regards,
John

don't relax yet, john, he' be back!!

Peggy · Aug 17, 2006

kappapi99 said:
well, between the fire drills, tornado drills, a-bomb drills, hurricane drills, and lost power drills, I just cannot seem to find the time...

Ah, yes, can't forget a-bomb drills. I'm a little too young for "duck and cover" drills, except for earthquake preparedness.

DamaNegra · Aug 17, 2006

Drills are stupid, really. Or at least, the drills I've been through.

We used to have earthquake drills twice each semester. Last week, a pretty strong earthquake hit and it took us more than 5 minutes to get out of the building in an orderly fashion. Of course, if the building falls down, we're all dead.

And then, in elementary, we had the stupidest fire drills in the world. When the alarm sounded, we had to go out of our classroom and stand in line by height. Then, all teachers would take attendance. Then, we went out, one group at a time. It took more than 20 or 30 minutes to evacuate the whole school. Again, if it'd been a reall emergency, we'd all be dead.

dclary · Aug 17, 2006

Where are you in Mexico, Dama? I know that Mexico City sits on a massive liquification plain -- essentially ANY side-to-side earthquake's damage is multiplied by about an order of magnitude due to the way the ground beneath you reacts.

DamaNegra · Aug 17, 2006

Mexico City, actually. I used to live in a building and once saw how the walls of my apartment cracked during an earthquake. No joke.

dclary · Aug 17, 2006

Yeah. I was in Mexico City in 1983, the summer before your big one hit down there. We had friends that we couldn't get ahold of for almost a week, and were grateful they were ok.

Forbidden Snowflake · Aug 17, 2006

Another example for how they actually manage to make this society grow up in fear. The society not realising they get manipulated and the ones above taking advantage of the scared community they built.

Sad, truly.

I am glad we are not there yet in Europe. Yet, I see it coming, slowly.

eldragon · Aug 18, 2006

Right, I understand being proactive, but is scaring hundreds of elementary school worth the ever-so-miniscule chance that an intruder will enter the school?

I'm not sure.

And, actually, I think the teachers and people who work at the front of the school should be the ones trained in how to deal with intruders, and not them in.

dclary · Aug 18, 2006

Drills aren't just for school. Every adult in California knows how to handle himself in the event of an earthquake, because he had drills as a child.

In the same way, if I'm in a bank that gets robbed, or a Diner where some drugged-up gangbanger decides to go all Tarantino and sh*t, then I'll know how to handle that situation. Drop, get under a table, don't be a target.

Because people from Illinois don't know what to do in an earthquake, and some people just don't know how to handle an aggressive gunman situation -- think Ellis in Die Hard.

What a Child Knows in 2006

eldragon

in a van down by the river

Godfather

back door man

Provrb1810meggy

LloydBrown

Mayor of Moronia

Mayor of Moronia

eldragon

in a van down by the river

Mayor of Moronia

Christine N.

haz a shiny new book cover

eldragon

in a van down by the river

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

Peggy

kappapi99

Peggy

kappapi99

writerterri

It's a dorky day!

deacon

Peggy

DamaNegra

Mexican on the loose!

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

DamaNegra

Mexican on the loose!

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary

Forbidden Snowflake

I'm quite put out.

eldragon

in a van down by the river

dclary

Unabashed Mercenary