What’s it like raising and teaching students of Gen Lockdown?

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In a recent PSA from March for Our Lives, we learned that children are leading experts in lock-down drills. There’s more complexity to this picture. 

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Children are also now being trained in active shooter civilian response through programs such as ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate). They learn to distinguish between codes red, yellow, and black. Experts train them how to tie tourniquets to prevent blood loss from gunshot wounds, and teachers fill bins with hockey pucks and river rocks for fighting intruders. “Shelter-in-place” or “Go Buckets,” filled with toilet seat covers, first aid kits, bleach, whistles, duct tape, zip ties, and crank radios supply teachers and students with the accoutrements of survival in the event of Columbine-inspired shooter storming the school. Statistics show that 4.1 million children participated in such training during the 2017-2018 academic year; other estimates tell us that 95 percent of children have been indoctrinated in some type of shooter-response training.  

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ALICE education might teach kids to maximize survivability, but children certainly won’t escape the irony of their time. They are simultaneously scared but thrilled, anxious but detached. Many spend hours playing Fortnite, joining the ranks of the 250 million players worldwide; it’s the most popular active-shooter video game in history. From the relative safety of their living rooms, they buy assault rifles, pump shotguns, boogie bombs, and tally their “kills” while dancing the Hype over fellow players’ virtual bodies. 

Video games do not cause shootings, but they do fuel moral panic among parents. I should know. All three of my sons play Fortnite.