Teachers should not be bull’s-eyes

I am a private teacher. I’m at a school at least one day a week when I’m not fulfilling my obligations as a professional musician.

When I got my degree, it didn’t come with the stipulation or requirement that I be armed like a police officer in order to be a teacher, nor a human shield for my classroom. It didn’t require me to be tested and licensed to carry a gun. I’d hate to see teachers and students one day show up for school in Kevlar vests. Our government continues to strip education of needed funding for necessary materials for learning lifelong skills. Now they magically think there’s money for guns? Their trees must be loaded.

My certification consists of nearly 140 hours for teaching Music to children in grades K-12. I was required to observe other teachers as part of my training in order to learn how to handle a classroom, not gunslingers so I could learn how to handle a gun. Maybe I earned my degree in the 1970s, but we’re still teachers, not vigilantes, not armed guards. Teachers aren’t paid enough to turn them into bullseyes.

When the day comes that I or any teacher is required to be armed and dangerous in a classroom that was originally designed to be a safe environment for learning, is the day we might as well resort to telecommuting in order to be able to teach even more students without the risk of anyone getting shot . ... LINDA LANDIS, PLEASANT HILL