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Learning with Sandy Hook: Mass Violence in Educational Settings—An Editorial Commentary

Several events in our nation’s recent history will forever be written into the public’s collective memory. These are moments that, when mentioned, draw our minds and spirits back to the exact space our physical bodies occupied on that day, conjuring their own unique smells, touches, sounds, and visions. At the same time, these moments of mass violence and hysteria carry the consistent markers of public disillusionment, fear, and feelings of betrayal. The unimaginable became a reality, and the lovelessness in the world was again revealed. For us, Kirsten and Elon, although the starting point for this section is the tragic shooting massacre that occurred on December 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, CT, our understanding of Sandy Hook is inextricably connected to our recollections of Columbine as the first moment in our lives that we understood school as a target for extreme violence. In fact, we were occupying very similar developmental stages during the mass shootings at Columbine, Virginia Polytechnic and A&M University, and Sandy Hook. Similarly, these events have not only influenced our current analysis, but have also shaped the ways we approach our professional work in education. Our understanding of schools as previously protected, safe domains prior to Columbine is ironic in light of our particular schooling experiences prior to college attendance. Sadly, while we perceived schools as protected, we did not think of them as protective; both of us endured bullying throughout middle and high school. Peer and teacher antagonism and aggression have often colored our memories of K–12 schooling. For Kirsten, the first time she understood schools as a place where she belonged was as a graduate student. Before this, she often received messages of inadequacy and worthlessness within the schooling context. Meanwhile, Elon was the victim of cruel boyhood and masculinity policing in school settings. As he has stated elsewhere (Dancy, 2012), this experience worked to shape early perceptions of schools as spaces of violence and spiteful (dis)engagement. Preand post-Columbine, schools for both of the authors have represented violently hostile spaces of (im)possibility. While we theoretically and