Hickman High School held its second Speak Your Mind forum this year, focusing on the issue of Tasers. Discussion involved the appropriate use of these devices, with the students in the audience greatly outnumbering the adults.
Looking around Hickman Commons, I wondered if Tasers were an issue that students at Hickman were truly passionate about, or if most students attended the forum simply to receive extra credit for their classes. As groups like The Coalition to Control Tasers pushes legislation to ban these devices from use by police officers in Columbia,are high school students old enough to understand, or care about the issue?
It turns out many of them did.
Dawn Law, a senior at Hickman, concerned about the use of Tasers at school, said that her fellow students agree with her.
“Everyone that I have asked, they all say the same thing. They would like for them not to use Tasers in school,” Law said. “Here they use Tasers and then ask questions.”
Daniel Huang, a sophomore, attended to hear multiple perspectives on the issue.
“I think this forum is great for someone to understand the other side’s point of view and maybe it can be used to refute their view as well,” Huang said.
Marshaye Devereaux, another senior at Hickman, said she thinks there are ways for police officers to do their jobs without the use of Tasers.
“I believe if (police officers) were trained otherwise, like before they were Tasering, then I don’t think (Tasers) should be used now,” Devereaux said. “I think you can restrain people without a Taser.”
Devereaux also believed that her fellow students were passionate about the issue.
“I think everyone is passionate about (Tasers) because it is something that has been an issue ever since they have came out and they’ve been used, so I think there will be a lot more people who think the same as me.”
She agreed with Huang about the benefits of the Speak Your Mind forum.
“It gives the youth time to talk about how they feel about issues that adults around Columbia talk about on a normal basis,” she said.
Not all students in attendance were as involved in the forum as Devereaux. A handful of students left as soon as the floor opened up for questions, while others didn’t seem to pay much attention to what was being said, talking among themselves. Nonetheless, Hickman English teacher George Frissell, who helped organize the event, believes the event is a great opportunity for students.
“They have the opportunity to speak to adults who are experts in the area and to hear different positions and then they really should do even maybe more research and decide for themselves,” Frissell said.
