When I saw that American high schools were divided between those that had a metal detector arch at the entrance and those that didn't, I thought how lucky we were in Catalonia to be so far from that situation. Until yesterday El País published that unarmed plainclothes police officers would enter high schools, for now as a pilot program. How we must see ourselves. The measure is a painful leap in scale, a before and after in the state of social conflict in our country.
When a government takes such a momentous step, it surely asks itself two questions beforehand, at least: whether it will be useful (whether it will do more good than harm) and whether it aligns with its ideological temperament, whether it fits with what is expected of its position on the left-right axis, and this measure exudes more authoritarianism than authority, which is a concept that, in a school, should be reserved for teachers, and which should be assumed by parents. And this means putting more resources from Education, not from the Interior. Except for having to respond firmly to violent or criminal behavior that arises urgently, can the police presence improve coexistence in a school, where by definition education is provided, among other objectives, so that students learn to be adults and do not have to resort to the police as soon as a conflict arises?
It goes without saying that American security arches were more numerous in poorer neighborhoods, and that the conflict in classrooms and school corridors, students brought it with them from home and from the neighborhood, which leads us to talk about social and urban planning investments. We will have to see the result of a decision that has been presented as a test, but, above all, we will have to ensure that whatever the police do or discover in a school center is put at the service of the management team. If not, in the name of security, we run the risk of damaging education.
