School Shootings Cry Out for Education Revolution

Proactively creating well-rounded students not standardized test machines.

Amidst another school shooting at Marysville-Pilchuck Highschool, my heart is in agony. I feel it aching in my chest as I process why these shootings continue to occur. It truly hits home as I will soon be spending thousands of hours inside a school building and have experienced a shooting at my own school, Seattle Pacific University. I get lost in all of the details, but each time a shooting happens it grows more and more astonishing. I can't help but ask the question why? 

Of course, the over-arching explanation is that the shooters are mentally ill, or have unstable homes. Some people will point to violent video games and television shows. Others will point to the decrease of religion in our schools or easy access to guns. But, the questions still remain.

Why do students feel so unheard and so unloved that they choose to bring a gun to school in order to hurt their fellow classmates? 

Why have places of learning turned into places of violence? 

How high do the numbers have to reach in order for the government to examine our education system? 

 Why haven't security measures at schools been increased? 

Why is education not a bigger priority in our nation? Not just a priority in conversation, but a priority in budget? 

According to this chart, "since the December 2012 shooting in Newtown, CT, there have been at least 87 school shootings in America," and that doesn't account for the approximate 16 shootings before that. Why haven't we done something?

The biggest question of all is why we haven't begun to be proactive at the root of the problem? Instead of examining our school systems, we have looked to the government for more restrictive gun laws. Do policy makers really have the influence to stop these tragedies?


The problem lies in being reactive to these devastating events, when really we need to be proactive in what we are teaching our kids and how we are teaching them.

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As a Christian, tragedies like this remind me of the responsibility we each have to love one another and express compassion. We have no idea what anyone is going through and we must keep that in mind as we walk through this world. Tragedies like this make my soul cry out to God and yearn to be in His presence. He is the only one who holds the answers. But, it also reminds me of God's goodness, and how even in the midst of evil we can feel His presence. My heart is encouraged as I see pictures from the prayer vigils of football players with their hands open wide to the heavens as they sing praises, and people walking through church doors they may have never stepped through otherwise. I'm in awe and thankful that we have a God who brings good from evil.


As an educator, this brings different issues to mind. In teacher preparatory classes it is repeated over and over that all behavior is communication. We are taught that we must reach out to every student, and destroy racial and intellectual discrimination. Radical books call for a revolution in our education system stating that we must stop identifying students by a test number or only tracking their growth via predetermined standards that don't account for individual strengths, social growth, or how their culture impacts the way they learn. Instead of these radical changes taking place, student to teacher ratios and demands on teachers continue to climb, while budgets for education and teacher salaries continue to decline. Policy makers think that adding more standards and increasing rigor will solve the problem.


What I am afraid of is that the growing rigor, pressure, and emphasis on mandated tests and standards is only widening the very apparent gap between students and staff, and the achievers and “problem kids”. We are placing greater demands on teachers and telling students they aren’t good enough unless they pass a test. Placing emphasis on STEM and Common Core is creating parts of a machine, instead of caring human beings who know how to process emotions and feel empathy.


We must stop placing all of our stones in the STEM basket, and start valuing what the arts and humanities have to offer when creating emotionally healthy and intelligent students. It is imperative to remember that we need creative, imaginative, and well-rounded young people. Our world needs students who have read great works of literature and have practiced being sympathetic, compassionate, open minded, and analytical through the characters and story lines they read. We need students who know world history, have explored different cultures, and have pondered philosophical and societal questions. Our society needs students to experience the healing power of art, music, writing, and reading. We need more counselors and adults for students to bond with, look up to, and most of all feel like they can confide in. Students need to be taught how to see the world with their brains, hearts, and imagination.

Not only do we need to examine what the emphasis on STEM, Common Core State Standards, mandated tests, and low budgets are doing to our education system, we need to examine the effects of how our students are being taught. School should be a place where strengths are developed and weaknesses are worked through. It should be a place where students can go to be celebrated for their uniqueness. Students should be able to access learning that is presented to them through their individual learning style. Schools should not be a place where students feel like failures, thus feeling the need to look to violence in order to feel heard and important.

We must stop lumping students into a large sum of data and tests, and instead help tailor their education to their specific needs, dreams, strengths, and weaknesses. This in turn will create happier and more successful students, and a better school community. In order to revolutionize our education system into the one our kids deserve, we need the budget, we need the teachers, and we need the policy makers on our side. 

This revolution calls for everyone to take action. Prayer warriors, pray for those affected by these tragedies; pray that community will bind together as Marysville-Pilchuck Highschool begins to heal, and schools like mine continue to feel the repercussions.  Soccer moms, baristas, and lawyers, stand up for the arts and humanities. Churches, fight for the creation of well-rounded human beings who learn how to be healthy spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Young Life leaders, spread your program to every single school. Future teachers, teach your heart out and don’t be disheartened by the lack of pay or all of the work. Be a teacher to make a difference, not a fortune. Students, fight for YOUR education.


This is just the tip of the iceberg, that is for sure, but we need to start looking at what these shootings are telling us and do something. 


My whole heart goes out to all those affected by school shootings. I hope to stop them before they become a norm.