Other than vilifying an invisible enemy and an occasional scrape or splinter, there was no harm done in hiding under our desks. We even changed the Pledge of Allegiance to reinforce “us-versus-them” attitudes, even though Francis Bellamy, creator of the original Pledge, was probably spinning in his grave. But there were no mass school shootings back in the 1950s, when all this was going on.
Today—exaggerating, I realize—it’s practically become ‘mass shooting du jour’—not only in schools. Perhaps we need to look at what has changed in our world, both in attitudes and availability of weaponry that make hiding under our desks in the 1950s, well, child’s play. I agree with the poster who pointed out the potential benefit, though possibly remote, of a child being safer during a school mass shooting less visible under a desk rather than sitting at it or standing in the classroom or trying to run.
As an aside, the history of Francis Bellamy and his Pledge of Allegiance is interesting. Here’s a link from the Smithsonian about it:
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