West Point, a United States military academy has a tradition of a fun pillow fight at the beginning of the school year after a long summer of training. However this year was different. Some students put hard objects, thought to be helmets, into the pillows and caused 30 injuries and 24 concussions. It's supposed to be an energetic, sometimes violent rite of passage.
However this isn't the first time something like this has happened at West Point, or even other military academies such as Colorado Springs. In 2012 someone put a lockbox in their pillowcase causing injury and the event was cancelled in the next year, it hasn't taken too long for the violence to start up again.
The author of this article seems to disprove of the violence of a school activity but notes how many of student's opinion on the injury count, is that it's a source of pride to experience it and that the students take the event seriously. The premise of a pillow fight sounds fine enough but this event has proven the type of unrestrained violence at this academy. To take something fun and turn it into a way to injure people is disturbing. We obviously need to have a military to protect ourselves but this article raises the issue of how to create soldiers and how to morally allow people the chance to kill without legal repercussions. Is there and should there be a way to know that future military is in the military for the right reason, not just as a way to hurt others? Should those who are prone to more violent inclinations be allowed to fight considering their volatile nature, or is it helpful to society to take them off our hands and give them a way that they are allowed to carry out those actions in the name of The United States?
I like this idea of holding a fun activity for the students before the school year starts, but they could change the activity to something that requires less physical contact to avoid future injuries, since the students can't control themselves and be able to have clean, nonviolent fun. They could hold a volleyball or tennis tournament, or some other non-contact sport.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's kind of alarming to know that something like this is going on at a military academy. Shouldn't these students be learning how to protect their country, not hurting fellow U.S. citizens and associates?
I love the fact that they try to have a fun activity for the sudents but someone could really get hurt and I thinnk they should either check pillws before of just take this away all together i people are getting unjured.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the others, military students deserve the privilege of a rewarding activity. Although it'd be safer to choose another alternative with the potential to be less harmful.- Cassidy Jones
ReplyDeleteI don't think the tradition should end, since it's obviously important to the students and safe in theory. But the violence isn't justified, and sounds like it's just rooted in immaturity. Hopefully they'll learn from this mistake.
ReplyDeleteWhat repercussions do the ones that turn the event violent face? It's so upsetting that there are a number of people that spoil things for others.
ReplyDelete--Eva Semrad
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