There are many words in the English language that while not offensive, still have the ability to make me cringe. One that has been in the news quite a bit recently is lockdown.
Every time something bad happens in a school (like the recent random gang violence in Sydney, Australia) or near one (like numerous crimes occurring in the vicinity of a school in Toronto) a lockdown occurs where no one can leave or get into the school.
I don't think I have to remind everyone about how much high school sucks, but do we really need to start referring to incidents as lockdowns? Do we need to alienate kids more than they already are by making school feel even more like a prison? What is next, are we going to start herding them into the gym and hosing them all down to keep them in check? Many schools already have security, metal detectors, random drug searches from the K-9 unit, and now when things go terribly wrong, we enact something akin to what would be used to quell a prison riot.
Does anyone know anything about simple psychology anymore? The more you treat kids like they are prisoners the more they will start to feel hopeless and begin to act like that. All these tactics do is breed fear and mistrust; they do not increase safety at all. We all know that people who live in fear can be driven to extremes; for better or worse.
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