Tag Team Sensitivity

On September 27, 2006, Duane Morrison entered a Bailey, Colorado high school and commenced sexually assaulting six female students and murdering Emily Keyes before doing America a favor and killing himself. Two days later, Eric Hainstock, a student at Weston High School in Cazenovia, Wisconsin, strolled into school, sought out principal John Klang, and proceeded to casually shoot him several times. Klang later died at the University of Wisconsin Hospital. Only three days later, Charles Carl Roberts raided a one-room Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, carrying a shotgun, a handgun, wires, and chains; he bound hostages and ruthlessly murdered five girls. These incidents quickly allowed students and parents to question the security of schools around the country. The governors of Colorado, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania all reacted and commented on the events, answering questions on how to further protect children. Recently, officials at an Attleboro, Massachusetts elementary school decided to take a proactive stance in protecting children and banned…tag?

As in, “Tag, you’re it.” Not just Tag, however, but also touch football and any other chase game for fear that students could get hurt. Officials also banned the game because they didn’t want to be held accountable for injured students, but really, this is about the protection of the students, and I wouldn’t be so bold as to question the sincerity of the staff. Indeed, the city of Attleboro has a long history of protecting children. A few years ago the city worked to outlaw dodgeball, calling it “exclusionary” and “dangerous.” Absolutely, and let’s not forget the competitive spirit and drive to succeed that can definitely warp a child’s mind through sports. It seems that Attleboro is at the forefront of protecting children and making difficult decisions. Still, a revolt may be brewing.

Actually, in 2002, a Santa Monica elementary school banned tag because it created self-esteem issues among weaker children and because “some children were not playing it appropriately.” In addition, a Madison elementary school suspended tag for the same reasons and also because it was too violent. After the ban, Dr. Judy Young, executive director of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, criticized the decision, “[Games like tag] are organized to have a winner and a loser [which is simply part of life].” Unfortunately for the schools, it appears children agree with Young.

In fact, after the Madison ban, students started a petition to reinstate tag. “I was mad. Most kids can’t focus well when they don’t get exercise, and kids who don’t have football, they all play tag,” Olivia Lichterman, a founder of the petition, told local news affiliates. The petition logically claimed that football is more dangerous than tag, and that tag is a community building tool and allows children to meet new friends. The Madison elementary school principal noticed the petition, and then slyly called the ban temporary, saying it was a lesson to get students to think how to play the game more safely and peacefully.

Strangely enough, in Colorado, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Governors Bill Owens, Ed Rendell, and Jim Doyle have not made the rash decision to prohibit tag. They’ve first decided to analyze the cause, and then work toward solutions. Jim Doyle recently spoke at a safety school summit imploring schools to be “hyper-vigilant.” Doyle, who is in the middle of a re-election campaign, is looking into providing more money for security in school, “It’s not a terribly expensive thing to do in the context of the state budget, but it’s terribly important to do.” State Representative Frank Lasee went one step further, “To make our schools safe for our students to learn, all options should be on the table. Israel and Thailand have well-trained teachers carrying weapons and keeping their children safe from harm. It can work in Wisconsin.”

When Ed Rendell was asked for solutions he cried, “I believe with all my heart that we need more gun control.” However, only seconds later admitted that stronger gun control would have had no effect on the Lancaster tragedy, “You can make all the changes you want, but you can never stop a random act of violence by someone intent on taking his own life.” This statement from Rendell helps to shed light on Bill Owens’ statements, in which he has consistently explained that lessons learned from Columbine truly helped prevent the Bailey tragedy from becoming even more harrowing.

In the end, it is incredibly difficult to protect our children. After Bailey, Kenneth Trump, president of the National School Safety and Security Services consulting firm, insisted, “There’s no perfect security, from the White House to the schoolhouse. When you factor in unpredictable outsiders, when you have a roaming monster walking into the schools, we have to be realistic. There are some incidents you’re not going to be able to prevent.” Typically, when schools would forbid competitive games people everywhere could roll their eyes in disbelief. However, when you put these suspensions in context with the actual violence that is occurring in schools, then the prohibitions are exposed as extremely absurd and a waste of time. Americans have a legitimate reason to be angry that school officials would focus more on outlawing tag than they would preventing a suicide-bomber from entering a school and murdering hundreds of children.

Matthew Hickman is an intern at Accuracy in Media.