We find ourselves, yet again, in a moment of national loss at the hands of yet another school shooter. Given the persistent reality of this American nightmare, our flags are once again lowered to half-staff and we are reminded that given the rampant nature of mass shootings in this country, we rarely require the full height of a flagpole.
No other country on the face of the planet experiences, and dismisses as quickly, the carnage of lives lost, families eternally shattered and our collective acceptance of a moral bankruptcy that, seemingly, accepts the constant barrage of death at the hands of another mass shooter.
While we, as a society, did not pull the gun trigger to cause this nightmare, we continue to fail to pull the metaphorical trigger on any real and meaningful policy changes that will certainly reduce — maybe eliminate — what is decidedly best described as American carnage.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
Media personalities and politicians have, as usual, resorted to their predictable phrases of “thoughts and prayers,” or claims that “now is not the time” to discuss any efforts to ameliorate or prevent these tragedies from occurring again. In short order we will hear advocacy for tired education policies that are all grounded in the premise, and acceptance, that school shootings will continue to occur and reactive-educational policies are the solution.
There will be claims this shooter, like the rest of our nation’s shooters, suffered from mental health issues — but there will be no meaningful funding of mental health initiatives. And, there will certainly be no meaningful discussion of preventive policies such as red flag laws.
Teachers enter this profession of ours because they aspire to help children reach for, and realize, their highest potential. Despite this, there will be calls to arm teachers. Policymakers will soon suggest teachers carry a weapon and potentially use it against one of their own students.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
And even though highly-trained New York Police Department officers only hit their intended target 18% of the time during a gunfight, policymakers will not discuss what it will mean when a teacher misses 82% of the time. And, there will certainly be no meaningful discussion of preventive policies such as reinstating the assault weapons ban.
There will be discussions of active shooter drills and increasing the regularity of them. This, despite the efficacy of the effort amounting to little more than the “duck and cover” facade of the Cold War era. There will be no discussion of the trauma this instills into children. And, there will certainly be no meaningful discussion of preventive policies such as universal background checks.
There will be calls for “hardening” what is seen as a “soft” target such that we make our schools resemble airport and prison-style security screening. There will be no discussion of the cost, the hours upon hours it would take to process students through each day, nor the trauma it can convey to students and teachers. And, again, there will be no meaningful discussion of policy that situates the lives of children above the cheap desire to cosplay Rambo in the woods on the weekend with an AR-15.
All of these, and so many other shallow reaction-based policy discussions, will be the same as they always have and will bring the same amount of change, which is none. The policy discussions and political theater will wane as we move our flags back to full staff only to be reignited by what will certainly be the next catastrophe.
Given what has been described here as our American carnage, the fact this carnage is often found in our public schools, and the ceaseless theater that is local and national education policy, we often ask our pre-service teacher candidates why they want to become teachers. With no exception, a deep desire to care for children and help facilitate their learning of content knowledge and, decidedly more importantly, to grow as individuals is paramount in the motivation.
Our nation’s educators represent the very best of who we are. They accept low pay for hard work that requires long hours because they care for our nation’s future and its children. They are the ones we have entrusted with playing a pivotal role in facilitating the transfer of our democracy to the next generation. We can no longer ask them, and their students, to place their lives on the line because policymakers are unwilling to discuss preventive policies but, rather, seek to stack even more burden on teachers with reactive educational policies in a cheap veneer of protecting the gun lobby.
Teachers like Cristina Irimie and Richard Aspinwall represented the very best of our profession. Not because they laid their lives down, but because they committed their lives to our students. Cristina was a graduate of the University of North Georgia, where we both teach. What follows at the end of this column is the original recommendation letter written by Westry Whitaker on behalf of Cristina as she entered the job market.
As a former student of hers noted this week, Cristina operated from a deep commitment to her students and had a notable sense of humor. As the discussions of policy begin, let us keep the victims of last week’s shooting — Mason, Christian, Richard and Cristina — in mind and mourn our collective loss. Let us also have meaningful policy discussions that do not accept school shootings as a mainstay of American culture.
Rather, let us seek to create policies that will end mass shootings by finding the political courage to not ask education policy to save our fellow citizens, or teachers to take bullets on behalf of students, or our students to take bullets on behalf of political cowardness. Instead, let’s consider balanced gun regulations that will reduce the carnage.
March 24, 2016
Dear Sir or Madam,
Please allow this letter to support Ana-Cristina's Irimie's application for employment at your school. Cristina is a dedicated and passionate student that is driven by an honest desire to learn and a genuine concern for her future success as a teacher. She is vastly intelligent, thoughtful, reflective, and she is a diligent worker on both sides of the classroom. Cristina's passion for teaching has been evident throughout her internship experience; her experience and knowledge of the content is inspiring; her devotion to improving her teaching in order to best serve her future students is represented through her thoughtfulness and her consideration of experience and different forms of knowledge.
I met Cristina in 2015 during the fall semester of her senior year. Because her content areas were science and math, Cristina and I did not meet until she became an intern placed under my supervision as part of her required student teaching experience. Cristina began the semester with a sense of purpose and a clearly recognizable desire to make the most of her time at Gainesville Middle School. Her focus toward this goal was among the most dedicated of all the interns I have worked with; Cristina demonstrated an impeccable desire to reflect upon her weaknesses in order to maximize her strengths in the classroom. She always listened and thought deeply and diligently about feedback and she consistently considered new techniques, methods, ideas and/or strategies that would allow her to become the best math or science teacher she could be. As the year continued, Cristina remained committed to this purpose and never waivered from her devotion to make the most from her experience. This reflective ability combines with her sense of humor, her ability to form relationships with students, and her extraordinary comfort with and knowledge of the content (for both science and math) to make me very confident that Cristina will be an excellent teacher.
Three of Cristina's personal qualities stand out in my mind: chief among them is her confidence with and knowledge of the science and math content areas. Throughout my observations of her teaching, Cristina made a concerted effort to actively present the material with hands-on experiments and captivating games or relevant connections. Her personal feedback to students needing support was timely, attentive, and well focused on encouraging the student to think his or her way through the learning material. Next, Cristina's desire to rise to the challenges of life, her coursework, her internship, the edTPA process, and her learning matches the dedication with which she approaches her teaching. She takes a great deal of pride in her work and her teaching. She approached her studies, her internship, and the overall academic experience from a position of integrity that is focused on fairness, ethical practices, and solid work. Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention the fact that Cristina's easy-going sense of humor allows her to understand and communicate effectively with middle school students. While Cristina is quite clear on the difference between “teacher" and “friend," she never hesitates to offer a smile, a laugh, or a congratulatory gesture to a deserving student.
In addition to my knowledge of her teaching, I have great confidence that these three traits will allow Cristina to make outstanding contributions to the teaching profession. Her deep intellectual creativity combines with her passion for teaching and her overall reflexivity in such a way that will motivate and inspire her future students. I encourage you to consider Ana-Cristina Irimie for employment at your school.
If you have any questions regarding this recommendation, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely, Westry A. Whitaker, Ed.D
T. Jameson Brewer and Westry Whitaker are associate professors at the University of North Georgia.
