Another tragedy hit our education system today with shootings at Virginia Tech. At a little after seven o’clock this morning a call was made to the campus police reporting a shooting at West Amber Johnson residence hall. While the shootings were being investigated, another report came in from shootings across campus at classrooms in Norris Hall.
Altogether, 32 people were killed and over 20 more were injured. The single shooter is also dead. It has not been confirmed yet if the shooter took his on life or was shot by police. However, this may be the worst campus shooting in history.
The armed shooter, I am unclear on whether he was a student or not, began opening fire moving from classroom to classroom. Students and teachers tried to take cover by closing themselves up in the rooms.
The campus security, local police, and FBI all began investigations. Emails were sent out to students notifying them that classes were cancelled for today and tomorrow.
Earlier in April, on two separate occasions, the school had received bomb threats and was forced to close three of its campuses and cancel classes.
After reading a previous blog by Andrea on reasons why she homeschools her children, fear for safety and wanting to protect your children should definitely factor in somewhere on the list. However, I am not certain how homeschooling in college would work.
Occurrences such as these anger me greatly. School shooters are preying on some of the most vulnerable people. We educate ourselves to better our lives. Schools, of any kind, should be havens for our minds. We should be able to sit in a class and focus completely on learning without ever a thought of danger.
Had these students and faculty members been walking though a dark alley or partying in an underground club, we might be able to say that danger could have been foreseen, although not deserved. However, a school campus, a classroom, a resident hall should not be open to such horrific actions.
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