In response to the tragic shooting at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, last week, Arne Duncan, former education secretary under President Barack Obama, is calling on parents to stop sending their children to school until stronger gun laws are implemented.
In the hours following the horrific shooting in Texas, Duncan endorsed a plan calling on parents to keep their children home from school to protest congressional inaction on gun violence, calling the proposal “brilliant.”
“This is brilliant, and tragically necessary,” tweeted Duncan. “What if no children went to school until gun laws changed to keep them safe? My family is all in if we can do this at scale. Parents, will you please join us?”
This is brilliant, and tragically necessary.
What if no children went to school until gun laws changed to keep them safe?
My family is all in if we can do this at scale.
Parents, will you please join us? https://t.co/Yo4wsFuJI5— Arne Duncan (@arneduncan) May 18, 2018
While Duncan’s response is unlikely to gain any traction, especially because many states have compulsory attendance laws in place (and parents who work may not have someone to watch their kids), it is worth noting how irresponsible such an idea is, particularly when it comes to finding solutions to keep children safe.
First, while children dying in mass shootings tends to drive news coverage, a 2017 study by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists found that more than 80 percent of children and teenagers killed by gun violence do not die in mass shootings, which are considered incidents in which four-plus individuals die from gun violence.
Furthermore, the same study noted that approximately 85 percent of children under 13 years of age who are killed by gun violence are killed in their own home, while teenagers between ages 13 to 17 are equally likely to be shot to death in their home or be killed on the street.
Duncan himself should know that schools are the safest place for children, given his previous experience as CEO of Chicago Public Schools from 2001 to 2009. Currently, Chicago remains one of the most dangerous cities for teens when it comes to gun violence outside of school, with a homicide rate for teens of roughly 1.85 per 1,000.
Keeping children safe from gun violence should remain one of our highest priorities, but Duncan’s proposal to accomplish this by boycotting school is not an evidence-based solution. Schools remain one of the safest places for children to be, and hastily pulling them out does nothing to help keep them safe.
