We do no harm to the value of competition if we define victory differently for different people. We enhance the power of competition by making certain that what everyone does best is regarded with value. Individuals should be considered winners when they develop well their strengths as opposed to when they meet a narrow range of standards that only a few can meet. I hope school system leaders can go deeper than we have to date when addressing safety. Unless we focus the attention of our enterprise on root causes and unless we challenge our communities to focus attention on these causes, we will be condemned to an endless process of trying to prevent symptoms.
Airplanes provide safe travel for two main reasons.
We are not allowed to bring weapons we own on planes. Teamwork, instead of competition, exists among pilots, air traffic controllers and mechanics. If tempering the values of private property and competition produces safe plane travel, tempering these values in school settings would make us feel better about school safety.