The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

Well, it’s that time of year for Going Back to School sales, outfit the kids with notebooks and pencils, calculators and wardrobes, oh, and don’t forget the Kevlar backpacks. This year’s fashion statement comes with bullet proof fabric, available in hot colors, extra pockets, maybe room for all those books PLUS a first aid kit. Tourniquets, of course!

I don’t know if you’ve been in a school lately. Alarms, security guards, locked doors, notices at the entry for all visitors to check into the office immediately, cameras, drills for intruder alerts, everything but razor wire around the perimeter. Although I was just in Yakima, WA and saw an elementary school which did have razor wire surrounding it. Some communities want teachers to carry guns, some probably want the kids to carry em too. I don’t understand either why the tots are stressed.

The more modern schools, meaning the ones with money, are hiring high tech outfits to monitor Facebook and social media, eavesdrop on cellphones, run an algorithm or a million to determine potential mayhem from maladjusted students, forget about privacy rights, they have the safety of the entire school at risk. Big Brother is now the School Board and the Principal is the Warden.

Now we have Kevlar backpacks. That should reassure the children. Maybe use a frontpack too. And wear military grade steel helmets. I’m pretty sure I’m getting a clear picture of what kind of education our youngsters are getting these days. I remember duck and cover drills for atomic attacks in third grade down in Georgia not too many miles from Cuba missile sites. Get under your desk and hope the blast isn’t real close. Fear is a great teacher, you bet.

Schools must feel like war zones now. Barricades, blast barriers, security details, lockdowns. I assume they still teach math and science, but I suspect the real education isn’t readin’, writin’ and ‘rithmitic, it’s Dread. Course, to be fair, I always dreaded school and we didn’t even have mass murderers lurking in the hallways. Just bullies.

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