I’m An Educator, and I Say, Don’t Arm Teachers

As Rita Pierson said in her inspiring TED Talk, “Every kid needs a champion.” I am that champion.

I started teaching at 21, and have been “either in the schoolhouse, traveling to the schoolhouse, or talking about what happens in the schoolhouse” my entire professional life. I have been a teacher assistant, teacher, assistant principal, principal and a leader of a network of high schools for the past eight years. I taught in an affluent suburb just outside of Chicago but have spent my leadership life in some of Chicago’s toughest and most violent neighborhoods.

The debate about whether to arm teachers has been percolating since the mass shooting at Columbine High School 19 years ago. The call to arm teachers intensified as the Trump Administration, and the NRA voiced their support after the school shootings at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. and Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, TX. Recently, we learned that the Education Department, under the leadership of Betsy Devos is considering whether to allow states to use federal funding to purchase guns for educators.

Arming teachers is a terrible idea. Here’s why:

Society criminalizes Black boys.

Research institutions like the University of Chicago’s Consortium for Chicago School Research and the Brookings Institution have long chronicled disparities in school discipline. In some states, Black males are suspended and expelled at four times the rate of their White male peers. This is the direct result of the criminalization and demonization of young black men that begins as early as Pre-K, where black boys make up 19% of the population but 45% of the students who receive one or more out-of-school suspensions.

These exclusionary disciplinary practices are a major driver of the school-to-prison pipeline. We also see these biases play out in the disproportionate number of detentions that black males receive, their overrepresentation in special education programs, and other undocumented exclusions from school (like forced early dismissals). These manifestations of fear create damaging academic experiences for many Black boys.

The idea of arming teachers, who in many instances already weaponize their grade books and disciplinary logs to keep Black boys in check, is terrifying. I can foresee cases where Black boys are executed in school because a teacher felt “threatened.” Where a Black boy who previously would have been suspended from school for showing age-appropriate defiance, talking too loudly, or getting out of his seat without permission is shot and possibly killed. If our highly trained law enforcement agencies struggle with using appropriate force when interacting with young Black men, how can we expect teachers to?

 Enough is Enough

How much more can we ask of our teachers? Those of us who accepted our calling to become teachers understand that we are more than just deliverers of content and skills. Our job is to motivate, inspire, and enlighten. We get it. What I don’t understand is why schools are viewed as the panacea for all societal ills. Racism? Let the schools fix it. Poverty? Let the schools fix it. Inequity? Let the schools fix it. Violence? The schools will fix it.

Do we place as much on the backs of any other industry? No. Do we expect the auto industry to address childhood obesity or the insurance industry to address illiteracy? We don’t, because the very thought of it is crazy. Yet we afflict schools with this tremendous burden, and when academic achievement is compromised, some celebrity seeking politician blames the schools for failing.

How much more can we ask of our teachers? We already want them to love our children, counsel them, treat them like their own, teach them to read, to do math, think critically, model citizenship and prepare students to succeed in college. The list is infinite, and most teachers eagerly accept the call to duty because they believe in the power of education. Do we want to add to the list confronting gunmen with AR-15 rifles and chasing down bad guys between making copies and the unscheduled parent conference?

Why not address the root cause of these mass shootings: a lack of mental health services and a lack of social workers and counselors in our schools? Why not deconstruct the maze so that families who are concerned about the social and emotional health of their children don’t have to navigate a labyrinth to receive proper services?

We already ask too much of our schools and our teachers. It’s time we start investing resources in our schools rather than setting and holding them accountable to impossible and insurmountable expectations. Plus, I don’t want my son’s kindergarten teacher adjusting her gun holster before sitting down with the kids on the reading rug. Something about that doesn’t feel right to me.