On the militia/guns thread, the changing zeitgeist was mentioned: kids in American schools not doing nuclear fallout drills any more, but preparing for crazy shooters instead.
Although these threats vary, the response to all of them seems to be getting under the desk - if your classroom still has one. I don't think anybody cowers under a beanbag.
In New Zealand the enemy is earthquakes. Every child can recite the three words:
In fact there's a far higher risk in Wellington than Auckland (near-certain versus very unlikely), but it's practised nationwide.
In my childhood we obeyed Tufty (Kerb Drill, predating the Green Cross Man) and of course, there were fire drills. This was the only time we were allowed out onto the fire escape, a rickety old iron thing that Tony might have clambered up to woo Maria in West Side Story. Eventually it dawned on the staff that hyperactive kids swarming onto this death trap was going to produce far more casualties than a fire, so the fun was curtailed.
(and ... insert Fawlty Towers clip here)
Although these threats vary, the response to all of them seems to be getting under the desk - if your classroom still has one. I don't think anybody cowers under a beanbag.
In New Zealand the enemy is earthquakes. Every child can recite the three words:
In fact there's a far higher risk in Wellington than Auckland (near-certain versus very unlikely), but it's practised nationwide.
In my childhood we obeyed Tufty (Kerb Drill, predating the Green Cross Man) and of course, there were fire drills. This was the only time we were allowed out onto the fire escape, a rickety old iron thing that Tony might have clambered up to woo Maria in West Side Story. Eventually it dawned on the staff that hyperactive kids swarming onto this death trap was going to produce far more casualties than a fire, so the fun was curtailed.
(and ... insert Fawlty Towers clip here)
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