4th Graders Respond To Gun Education Proposal In Schools

ACROSS COLORADO – By Erica Meltzer, Chalkbeat Colorado Colorado fourth-graders won’t be asked to demonstrate their understanding of the possible benefits of gun ownership as part of their unit on conflict resolution.

Republican members of the State Board of Education had proposed adding language to state standards that spoke to the benefits of gun ownership for self-defense. But on Wednesday they decided against pressing the issue with their Democratic colleagues. The discussion came at the tail end of months of work to update Colorado’s academic standards, including health and physical education standards. The state reconsiders these requirements every six years.

The new health standard in question says that Colorado students should be able to “demonstrate skills necessary to prevent a conflict from escalating to violence.” They should be able to describe situations that could escalate to violence, explain positive alternatives to using violence to resolve conflicts, and “explain the potential dangers of having weapons at home, in school, and in the community.”

But some board members felt that last requirement, an “evidence outcome” in the parlance of the state standards, was too one-sided. They said it was not appropriate to focus only on the dangers of firearms — since parents might have guns at home, security officers might have guns at school, and police have guns in the community. The previous health standards talk about conflict resolution but are largely silent on the issue of firearms.

Board member Deb Scheffel suggested adding to the health standard the phrase “and benefits for self-defense” and board member Joyce Rankin, aiming for a middle ground, wanted to add just the phrase “and benefits.” Rankin said it was not appropriate to focus only on the dangers.

Under Colorado’s system of local control, the State Board of Education sets standards, but local districts maintain complete control over curriculum. They will decide how to implement the standard on conflict resolution, along with other aspects of the new health and physical education standards. There is no state assessment on these topics, as there is for math or reading.

Community norms around guns vary tremendously around the state, with some districts supporting students in advocating for more gun control even as some rural districts adopt policies to arm teachers.

Members of the committee that developed the new standards had already added an “inquiry question,” intended as guidance for teachers to prompt deeper discussion, in response to community feedback that reads: “How can the use of guns and other weapons be positive?” This question “could be used to guide a discussion about self-defense in the event a school community feels that it is appropriate.”

But the committee members, in a written statement responding to the proposed amendment on “benefits” of firearms, said that they do “not agree that adding self-defense to the evidence outcome is appropriate for fourth grade.”

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This story was originally published by Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Title Photo: Paris Elementary School teacher Elizabeth Rodriguez checks in with students on Aug. 28 2015. Photo by Nic Garcia.