Rerunning History

My granddaughter tells me they are having a practice " lock down " at the elementary school. She says they told the children there was a threat, not to their school, but to another and are locking down the school. The Chief of Police will be there. From what I know this lock down at the school consists of locking the doors and having the children hide under their desks. For us, of a certain age, it is very reminiscent of the actions taken in event of a nuclear attack. During the late fifties and early sixties there was a widespread fear, by the government, that the Russians would send nuclear tipped missiles our way. That was the plan to respond to that threat. Hide under the desk ! There were " shelters " in various buildings located throughout town were you would go after the initial attack.
I don't doubt the necessity of this lock down practice. It is a sad thing to have to admit that our children are now in danger from internal threats. Doing something is better than doing nothing. From our constant practice of drills while I was in the service, certain actions became automatic. It also helped in removing some of the fear. I would assume that is the real intent here rather than believing a school desk is any protection.
To me, it just says a lot about the world we now live in. We haven't had to hide under our desks for over forty years, now we do again. I'm sure going forward schools will be designed with stronger security features. Perhaps incorporating safe rooms and such. Or perhaps we will see the disappearance of public education altogether. Home schooling may be the way to go.
I am hoping that this will just fade into history that way our air raid drills did. I'm hoping they will just be a distant memory the grand children can tell their children. I can see it doing no harm anyway. History really does repeat itself.