Written By Charron Monaye
How many of us, as kids, were told to “stay out of grown folks’ business” or made to leave the
room when adults were talking? We obeyed. We learned respect. But now… why does it feel like
children, students, and ordinary people are being caught in the crossfire of debates they weren’t
even part of? When our arguments, our rage, our disdain spill into classrooms, college campuses,
and even homes, it is the innocent who pay the price. Kids aren’t just witnesses anymore, they
are victims. Bomb threats, shootings, fear, and heartbreak are the new lessons.
Is this the new reality for the next generation?
There’s a harsh reality Americans can no longer ignore…schools, once sanctuaries of learning,
creativity, and growth are under siege. From K-12 classrooms to college campuses, fear has
replaced curiosity, and survival has replaced education. In 2025, this is no longer an anomaly, it
is a national crisis. According to Education Week, there have already been nine school shootings
this year, resulting in injuries or deaths. Since 2018, the total has reached 230. Al Jazeera reports
that between 8 and 146 incidents of gun violence at schools have occurred this year alone,
depending on the data source. The human toll is staggering.
-On April 17, 2025, at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida a shooting near the
student union left two people dead and six others injured.
-On August 27, 2025, at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, two children were
killed and 17 others injured already the fifth K-12 school shooting since the academic
year began.
-On September 10, 2025, at Evergreen High School in Colorado, a 16-year-old student
injured two classmates before fatally shooting himself. This marks Colorado’s 13th
school shooting during class hours in the last 50 years. But it doesn’t stop with K-12
schools.
-On September 11, 2025, a wave of terroristic threats forced lockdowns at several
Historically Black Colleges and Universities, (HBCUs) Alabama State University,
Virginia State University, Hampton University, Southern University in Louisiana, Clark
Atlanta University, and nearby Spelman College implemented shelter-in-place protocols
as a precaution. These threats followed the shooting death of conservative activist Charlie
Kirk at Utah Valley University, fueling fears of coordinated attacks on educational
institutions nationwide.
The causes are as complex as they are disturbing. Political polarization has turned differences
into declarations of war, and children inherit a world where left versus right, ideology versus
– ADVERTISEMENT –
ideology, becomes justification for retaliation. Faith-based tensions exacerbate the problem, with
extremist rhetoric weaponizing belief systems and targeting schools and campuses. Mental health
crises, left untreated and stigmatized, are a dangerous cofactor, especially when students have
access to firearms.
Every shooting, every bomb threat, every lockdown carries a moral reckoning. How many more
parents, families, and loved ones must bury children before we accept that inaction has
consequences? What lessons are we teaching our children when debate is replaced by bullets,
and disagreement is met with threats and terror? Are schools meant to be sanctuaries of learning,
or have we allowed them to become arenas of fear and grief?
America stands at a crossroads. If policymakers and leaders fail to act, more children, students,
Americans will die, not by accident, but because society refused to lead responsibly. Direction
signs of left and right cannot replace guidance, dialogue, and reason. Racism, Attack against
Faith, and Violence is not the answer; it is a societal failure.
Education should never require courage to survive. Learning should never carry the risk of death.
The time to act is now before fear wins, before grief becomes routine, and before another
classroom, child, or person is silenced forever.