Diana Zuckerman, PhD As kids go back to school, parents are in
for a shock. Security measures are everywhere, and tighter than
ever before. Some schools have learned their lessons from the
Pentagon — since metal detectors are considered inadequate to
keep schools safe, all kids must now wear photo ID’s hanging
around their necks. This kind of “solution” may reassure some of
the parents, students, and teachers, who are worried about
whether any schools are truly safe. Certainly, metal detectors
have become an important safety strategy in the lives of many
Americans. But the shortcoming of some of these strategies is
that they are aimed at the enemy out there, when so many of the
problems have already come inside. The tragic murders of school
children have taught us a lesson, but it may not be the lesson
we needed to learn. As Congress debates whether the problem is
the availability of guns or the pervasiveness of violence in the
media, virtually nothing is done to prevent either. And that
means that the “nice,