Graduation Speech For Higher Education

Date rapes, hate crimes and theft have become an apparent concern on college campuses. The most disturbing crime on a college campus is a school shooting. Being a victim of any crime is the last thing any student or parent thinks of when choosing a college or university. The possibilities of danger on a college campus have been increasing over the years due to the reported crimes ranging from theft to murder. Because of the recent years of college campus reported shootings, both student and parent have become alarmingly concerned about

According to the NCSL, National Conference of State Legislatures “Over the last five years, campus safety legislation has been a hot issue across the country”. Authors like Jazz Silva are standing up for student’s rights that some State Legislatures might not care about. Not only are weapons dangerous but it is unsafe to students who may struggle with mental health issues. College campuses are safer than the communities that surround them. The University of Louisiana system states “93% of the violence against students occurs off campus.” Allowing guns on campus would lead to an escalation in violence, can lead to an increased number of suicides by college students, and the possibility that a weapon can go off by accident.

Reports indicate violence on a college campus are commonly caused by a student against students (Dickerson). Most cases of college violence occurred in the earlier 1990s and 2000s but severely of the incidents out of 272 cases the perpetrators killed 281 people incapacitated 247 or more (Dickerson). With the effective passing of Concealed carry laws, they have caused a possible increase of violence on college campuses (Dickerson). Even though guns on campus seem like a good idea for young adults for safety. Their brains are still developing as they still being perceived as physical mature (Dickerson). Many college students are easily persuaded and pressure to enact in risky actives. They get indulged more with alcohol and drugs staying on campus and it shows one risk students are faced with (Dickson). Dickson believes there are alternative ways to keep college students and faculties safe without the handling of guns on

On April 16th 2007 at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, a student with psychological problems began a two hour killing spree that left 33 dead (Reader). The massacre that occurred at this school is now the worst recorded incident in the history of the United States and eclipses the University of Texas massacre of 1966. In the wake of tragedies like these, students, teachers and administrators propose more measures to make us feel safe on campus. But why weren't these measures in place before? School administrators and police have a responsibility to protect their students and faculty on campus, and these instances clearly shown a lack of fulfilling that responsibility. And yet several campus' refuse to allow law-abiding and

The system of higher education in America could be in trouble. Due to dramatic change in what society values, they could soon be under attack. In the two articles that I analyzed, these issues were discussed in further detail. The first article was titled, “The Future of College” and was written by Graeme Wood. Its purpose was to draw attention to a new approach at education. The second article, “The Troubled Future of Colleges and Universities”, written by Gary King and Maya Sen, focused on the obstacles that universities are facing and gave suggestions of ways to overcome them. Along with this, both articles, addressed what education may look like in the future. With the development of technology and information from new studies, many wonder what the outcome could be. Will lecture style classes remain? Could higher education convert to a completely online experience? What is the most effective teaching method? In the first article, Wood argues for a completely online education. Whereas, the other article believes that universities need to focus on the importance of research. However, students learn in different ways, therefore, today’s higher education institutes should offer a variety of instructional methods.

Although eight states have passed provisions allowing concealed weapons on public campuses and several other states allow campuses to decide if they are allowed, instead colleges should take a holistic view and approach to provide a robust security program, safety training, communication network and guidance on behavior awareness for faculty and students. As States continue to pass campus carry laws the colleges continue to funnel the majority of their focus dedicated to passing the law. This has eroded and overshadowed the end result, which is to protect students and faculty. Campuses should not allow students to carry guns on campus. By providing this false sense of security it dilutes the opportunity to implement tools, train and provide strategies to improve campus safety.

As students embark on the journey that is college many new obstacles are bound to come their way, but yet, safety and security should never be the reason for fear in a student. It is becoming more clear that college campus shootings can happen and Gary Pavela and James Alan Fox have outlined the reasons why previous shootings have caused problems within college administration in modern times. Due to research on capmus shootings college administration has increased their safety measures in the wrong ways. College campuses have hindered the well-being of students then and now because administrative teams are attempting to make safety their first priority, , but in turn actually enlisting fear into student’s minds.

The media coverage of mass shooting on college campuses over the last decade has created a major debate over the permitting of guns on campus. Coverage of these events depicts walking on a college campus to that of walking in Fallujah. These news stories lead one to believe that it is not safe to be on a college campus. Your life is in danger if you want to get a higher education.

Students walk college campuses thinking of homework, friends, social happenings, but rarely thinking about their safety. Students on college campuses are defenseless against an armed assailant because an armed assailant can shoot and harm many students in a short time before the police arrive. There are opposing views about allowing concealed weapons on college campuses, and the debate has been making news lately with the number of school shootings and people getting killed and injured rising. According to Robert Birnbaum in The Magazine of Higher Learning, “More Guns advocates argue that college students and faculty should be able to carry weapons for their own protection, particularly since history has shown that colleges can’t protect them from assailants” (Birnbaum 7). For students to properly defend themselves against armed assailants, they should be allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus.

In this article it was discussed the dual sided argument on whether having guns on campus is necessary or more of a safety issue than a benefit. This study used data from a Midwestern university to see the amount of support that was represented by faculty and students regarding campus safety procedures. Although attitudes significantly differed, student’s thoughts were similar towards faculty and staff on campus. But, the issues that were assumed to influence support for campus safety were not a reliable source. This suggested that the policymakers as well as state legislatures may consider the different opinions coming from the community on campus and the members before introducing disliked guidelines that could have little to no effectiveness.

Colleges should not be allowed to take away your personal protection unless they can provide a truly safe environment for students. Sadly, most campuses can’t guarantee that assaults won’t occur, so people must be allowed to arm themselves for protection. While some schools have security or law enforcement, rarely can they reach the scene of an assault fast enough to prevent it. If the victim or a bystander has a self-defense weapon, there is a much greater possibility of stopping the attack. Attackers also avoid areas that allow firearms, and knowingly target places that don’t allow them. On October 9th, the Crime Prevention Research Center released a revised report showing that 92% of mass public shootings between January 2009 and July 2014 took place in gun-free zones. If college campuses nationwide reflected on the findings of this report, it would become apparent that allowing concealed weapons on campuses would significantly lower the odds of attacks occurring. Campuses that allow conceal carry are utilizing one of the biggest measures to deter assaults. According to John R. Lott Jr., PhD, "when states passed concealed carry laws during the years we studied (1997-2005), the number of multiple-victim campus shootings declined by 84%. Deaths from these shootings plummeted on average by 90%, injuries by 82%.

The idea gained traction “primarily based on our location and the amount of time it would take an armed response to arrive on campus”. A large number of people have been polled on this question, and it appears that law enforcement time to respond an emergency was an important fact in their decision to college’s president considered when decided to arm their police campus officers. Just as important, James McBride affirmed at Law Enforcement Publications and Conferences that parents and students are beginning to ask more questions about safety and security before they make their final

The tragic events at Virginia Tech in April of 2007 and Northern Illinois University in February of 2008 have policymakers, campus officials and citizens looking for solutions to prevent future attacks (Dickerson). Violent shootings that have occurred on a few college campuses in recent years have provoked a debate over

Safety is a tremendous issue on college campuses, and additional procedures need to be taken to prevent crimes from happening. When walking onto a college campus as a young adult, people get a rush of the unknown. The unknown could be going to college parties and late night study groups. College should be like any high school or elementary school and have better security measures to protect their students. The reasons we need these extra steps are to prevent violence, give students a sense of security, and monitor visitors on campus.

It seems that technology is growing, improving, and changing at an exponential rate. Technology now affects every part of our lives from the time we get up to the time we go to bed, and even as we sleep. One of the major areas that has been affected by technology is education. At one time, the only option for students to complete their education was in a traditional classroom setting. There has become a major need for non-traditional education because there has been a growth in the amount of non-traditional students that exist in our society. The advancement of technology has