demand that schools spend as much time on peace studies/conflict resolution as they do on lockdown and intruder drills.

Let’s get our schools to devote as much time to peace studies as they do to lockdown and intruder drills. Any student who spends 20 minutes in a dark closet should also have 20 minutes of enlightenment, in which facilitators lead discussion on creating stronger communities, providing support to those in need, learning from historical peacemakers, and resolving even the lowest level of interpersonal conflicts. In other words, let’s create an environment in which we seek not simply to react to imminent death but to assist one another through life. Teach children methods for reaching out to people who seem to be struggling. Let older children have open conversations about alternatives to violence. If classrooms can be cemeteries, let them also be gardens.