By Alyssa Solis/Staff Writer
Many people claim that ALICE training is unnecessarily traumatizing to students, especially those in elementary school. The Bureau of Justice Statistics claims that the chances of a child being shot at school is one in a million. However, ALICE training isn’t just for school shootings. It provides necessary life saving skills.
You know what isn’t one in a million? A burglary. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, out of an estimated 3.7 million burglaries, 1 million people were present during the burglary. About 266,560 of those people became victims of violent crimes. Additionally, in January 2020, CBS News reported that the number of mass shootings in the United States in 2019 exceeded the amount of days in the year. ALICE training could save lives, inside and outside the classroom. Not having ALICE training could put lives in jeopardy for these very real scenarios.
Saying that a student shouldn’t practice ALICE because they likely won’t get shot in school is like saying that we shouldn’t practice fire or tornado drills because of the low risk they pose to children during school. Most people would say that it’s absurd and that children need to know how to practice these drills regardless of the likelihood in order to know what to do in the future. That’s exactly how ALICE training should be seen.
Additionally, there is always a safe way to teach kids sensitive topics so that they won’t be traumatized. Many schools have programs in place to teach kids about dark topics such as child molestation and abuse without scaring them. I know that I never feared those topics due to the way that it was presented, but I also knew what to do if someone were to ever touch me the wrong way. The same can be done for ALICE training. Regardless, even if it is traumatizing, what’s worse than being traumatized is being dead.
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By Ricardo Villafan/Staff Writer
The ALICE program was made to protect children and give alternatives other than hide. It’s a great idea and it can help immensely, but is it really healthy for children to be put through that?
Everyone knows what ALICE stands for at this point, it has been drilled into our heads. The most controversial option that ALICE gives us is C: Counter. The main strategy of “Counter” is to overpower an intruder with numbers. In a lot of cases, that scenario can end very badly. On top of that, the chances of the same situation happening to us are very low.
Having to train for something that may never happen is pretty traumatizing. In some school districts across the country, but fortunately not here at Kenosha Unified School District, people act as intruders and police. They bang on doors and make it seem like an actual attack on the school. While there are people who would think nothing of it, there will always be people who are genuinely terrified by the realness of the situation.
A tense situation like that can induce high anxiety and stress when a person should just be able to study and learn in their school. As people we don’t like to be vulnerable or to be victimized, but the intense drills cause people to be more fearful when they go to school. No one wants to go to school and worry if their school is going to be attacked.
ALICE is entirely based on a “what-if.” That is the biggest flaw that goes along with ALICE — the fact that “what-ifs” are constantly changing and can never be pinned down to a system. It’s close to impossible to come up with a solution to each scenario that may happen in the case of an attack.
There is no way to really fix that. It will always change and nothing will be set in stone.
The students that have to go through these drills and imagine these scenarios are heavily impacted. When they should be able to focus on ACT’s and tests and good grades, their minds may shift everywhere else and become constantly afraid of what may happen in the next five minutes.
ALICE is implemented into elementary schools as well, although those students are young and can’t really comprehend the situation fully. The approach is adjusted for children and the concept is taught similarly to the mindset of “stranger-danger.”
All in all, the entire premise of ALICE is pretty harmful to students and their mental health. Although the intention of ALICE is good and means well, there are better ways to go about teaching tactics to defend oneself in the case of an attack on the school.
Instead of having mentally harmful drills, it would be better if schools solely did lessons and presentations explaining what to do in case of an attack. It would cause less anxiety and induce less fear. It’s now as if they are being taught a normal school lesson.
The world is scary and there’s no getting around that fact, and ALICE is a necessity at this point. But with the right methods it can be implemented in a more healthy fashion.