Parents’ views of school violence: The other ‘great resignation’

A couple weeks ago, a quote from Daniel Domenech, a former big-city school superintendent and the executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, appeared on Twitter: “Low test scores are not going to kill a child. A bullet will.” It was a searing one-liner, the kind that makes you hold your breath.

Of course, the statement is true in a narrow sense, but it’s clearly false in a broader sense. Gun violence in schools is a serious problem, but it is plainly not the biggest problem in terms of its effects on children and society.

Illiteracy and innumeracy, which tend to disproportionately burden low-income children and children of color, dramatically negatively affect a whole host of long-term outcomes, including the kinds of jobs they will get and lives they will live. And poor-quality education harms society, leaving vast reservoirs of talent untapped.

As a result of the shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Parkland, Fla., voter fears about the threat of gun violence in schools are off the charts, even though the actual threat is not as great as it seems. New research reveals that after the latest shootings, parents are increasingly resigned and are turning in desperation toward policies that would make local schools look like fortified prisons. But policymakers can avert this trend by passing strong gun control laws that are supported across the political spectrum.

Despite the perception that schools are rife with violence, the numbers on school shootings tell a more nuanced story. According to Education Week, there have been 119 school shootings in which at least one person was killed or injured since 2018, resulting in 88 total deaths. As troubling as this may be, schools are relatively safe places for children, especially when compared to other settings. For instance, over the last 30 years, the proportion of youth homicides that have occurred at school has been less than 3 percent every year, even though children spend far more than 3 percent of their time in school. Statistically, children are more likely to die in a car accident.

However, relative safety is clearly not good enough for many parents, students and teachers. While raw data matter, perceptions and fears may be just as important as the reality of the amount of violence in schools. Perceptions matter because parents have to make decisions about where to send their children to school, and also because voters must elect representatives to address gun violence legislatively.

Recent data on perceptions paint a clear picture — voters in general, and parents in particular, are incredibly concerned about gun violence in schools. Survey after survey shows that this is in fact one of, if not the, top educational concerns of voters. In the recent PACE/USC Rossier poll of California voters, “reducing gun violence in schools” was the most important issue for Democrats, Republicans, and every racial, income and education-level category of voters.

With fears sky-high, what can legislators and policymakers do about this problem? We also asked voters and parents a range of questions about how to address gun violence. The results of these questions, and evidence from other surveys and research, paint a heartbreaking picture of an American public that appears to be resigned to the fact that nothing systemic will be done to stop the bloodshed.

Our survey found — and others have as well — that voters overwhelmingly support a wide range of out-of-school gun control policies — policies far more ambitious than anything proposed by Congress. Democratic and Republican voters support banning and confiscating assault rifles, banning the sale of guns on state property, and allowing private citizens to sue manufacturers and transporters of illegal guns.

However, voters are also realistic. They know that tough gun safety laws are unlikely to be enacted, so they also support policies that would turn schools into facilities that look increasingly like fortified prisons — installing metal detectors, hiring more armed guards, “hardening” schools by limiting entryways. And parents of school-aged children are even more likely to support these kinds of school safety measures than non-parent voters. Even in deep blue California, nearly half of parents in our poll (47 percent) supported allowing teachers to bring guns into the classroom.

Sadly, our fears may be driving our policies.

With access to guns and assault rifles including AR-15s, barely restricted in several states, many voters apparently believe that we have to at least have a last line of defense at the schoolhouse door. 

Let’s be real. Dozens of armed police officers were unable to prevent the gun violence at Parkland or in Uvalde where they failed to stop an armed assailant. Undoubtedly, they will fail again in other schools. And while they are failing, these policies will enact a heavy toll on children and distract educators from the important work of improving teaching and learning.

The resignation parents and voters feel over the threat of carnage in our streets and schools is understandable, and it is causing parents and voters generally to accept policy solutions that will neither make schools safe nor better places for kids to learn.

There is a constituency — a large constituency — that supports bold gun action, maybe not in every state, but in many of them. Republicans and Democrats alike see what’s happening and want it to stop.

The country needs its leadership — from the federal level down through the states — to come together and figure out how to get guns off our streets and go beyond “thoughts and prayers” to show that they care about the safety of children. Simplistic solutions are tempting, but we cannot resign ourselves to letting gun violence dwarf learning when we are working to make schools better, safer places for children.

Morgan Polikoff is an associate professor in the USC Rossier School of Education

Pedro Noguera is dean of the USC Rossier School of Education