In light of the recent news—when a 6-year-old in Virginia shot his teacher in the chest—future teachers are becoming more concerned about their own safety as they prepare to graduate and enter the workforce. These future teachers have been taught many things: how to write lesson plans, how to accommodate different students, how to connect bigger pictures of racism and equality into their day-to-day teaching, etc. However, one thing they haven’t been taught is how to die for their students.
During the shooting that just happened in Virginia, the teacher, Ms. Abigail Zwerner, was shot in the chest. Yet, she still made sure to get the rest of her students out of the classroom and to safety before she herself made it down to the main office to tell them to call 911.
This teacher is being called a hero for what she did, and rightfully so. However, the situation that put her in this position should never have occurred in the first place. When you go into the field of teaching, dying on the job is something that is not listed in the job responsibilities; in this case, Ms. Zwerner is thankfully recovering—but unfortunately, many teachers do not.
The Rutgers Graduate School of Education (GSE) is known to teach its students everything that they will need to know about becoming a teacher…except for the one important yet unspoken rule: you do everything to protect your students, even if it means sacrificing your own life.
I asked students from the GSE Cohort of 2024 about their opinion on school shootings as a whole. One student expressed that it should not be our responsibility to protect our students in the event of a violent attack; everyone forgets that teachers are people too. They expect us to perform beyond our teaching duties.
“I signed up to teach to actually work with students and educate them—not to be the first line of defense/on the front lines of a violent attack.”
~Anonymous
Others stated that they do believe it is the teacher’s responsibility to protect their students, but that the responsibility shouldn’t rest solely on teachers. A repeated theme in the responses centered on how terrifying this reality is for future teachers. Yet, they would still do whatever it takes to protect their future students.
“If something were to happen, it’s not realistic I could protect all of my students. And yet, I would never forgive myself if something happened to one of my students… on my watch… I don’t think I’ll ever feel completely safe in a classroom.”
~Anonymous
I also asked the GSE Cohort of 2024 about their opinion on the most recent school shooting in Virginia, and whether or not it had changed their perception of school shootings. Some said that they had never imagined a shooter to be as young as the perpetrator in the Richneck Elementary School incident. One student talked about how terrified they are that one day, their own student may come into school with a firearm they found at home. They expressed that this is something that crosses their mind frequently and makes them rethink their decision to become a teacher. Another member voiced that their perspective hasn’t changed, as they believe that preventing school shootings starts at the policy level. Without that, something like this is unfortunately inevitable.
“It’s just unfortunate that the burden of school shootings is on educators, school staff, and the students and many politicians don’t seem bothered.”
~Anonymous
Future teachers live in fear and acceptance of the fate that awaits them after they graduate. They live in fear that one day someone may decide to bring in a gun to harm them or their students. They live in acceptance of the fact that they may one day die on the job, either from protecting their students or by being the target themselves.
Teachers didn’t ask to live like this. They didn’t ask to become human shields in order to protect their students. These are our peers—people who are around the same age as you and I, whose brains have yet to even fully develop—dying for the possibility that their students may live long enough to graduate. Even then, there’s no promise that those students, for whom they risked their lives, won’t become victims of the next school shooting.
“Teachers need to be taken more seriously. We didn’t sign up to walk into a school and die, yet that is now a possibility and something we are just expected to ‘deal with.’”
~Darlene Sanchez
Learn more about what you can do to protect students and teachers: