Letter to the Editor: School Walkout

To the Editor:

I am a tenth grader at a Providence public high school and it would be a lie if I tell you I feel safe. Our schools are filled with people who you might think you know but you can never know their inner problems or what’s going on inside their heads. Us humans go through many rough times during our lives and some might not be strong enough or don’t know how to handle the situation and there will always be people with problems. These problems might cause anger and frustration and that’s when those problems start affecting the people surrounding that one troubled person, they become dangerous to themselves and others. By guns being such an easy access we are making it easy for dangerous people to actually be a danger on a massive scale. Some people might argue that dangerous situations can happen with or without the use of guns and that’s true but with the use of a gun the harm done will increase. How many people do you think someone can kill using a knife in a school.

Some students are trying to put a stop to all this violence. We’re participating in walkouts and protesting and some people’s opinions are that we just want a day out of schools and that we just want to be rebels. Other people are accusing us of being dumb and childish, a person also used the fact that some kids have been doing this so called  “Tide Pod challenge” which is a foolish viral challenge were kids eat Tide pods. I’m a 15 year old female who finds that to be foolish behavior but still to this day I don’t know a single person how has ever done that challenge. I understand some adults being distrustful but at least we’re trying to make a change. People could argue about the fact that we have policeman everywhere and we should feel safe, but why should we feel like prisoners were we are sent to simply get an education. Our teachers have to lock our doors and only they are allowed to open them, we have to cover our doors and practice new drills in case of shootings. It feels like everyday were getting ready for a shooting or for something horrible to happen. when did it get to this, when and who decided that it should be a routine of locking our doors, and expecting the worst? Where has our freedom gone, why should we pay the price for something that could have simply been stopped?

-Y.P.