Safety drills such as hurricane preparedness, tsunami preparedness, and general emergency preparedness are completely neglected and pushed aside as “unlikely to happen”. However, as we do this, we are completely erasing the chances for us to be safe during these types of events.

Recently, Hurricane Irene destroyed many houses and killed off many people throughout the East Coast. Imagine if such an event were to occur here in Cupertino. Imagine how many students would be clueless of what to do. The school would be in complete chaos. Although we do not live right next to the coast, we are still near places such as Santa Cruz and San Francisco.

Granted, adding in extra drills will take away from class time. However, it comes down to the question of safety for all.

Not only does MVHS eliminate the practice of some important drills, but we also practice the already established ones without much care. Instead of taking these drills seriously,students are  caught gossiping under their tables during an earthquake drill. A fire drill is just an excuse for students to while away class time, or even social opportunity for some. Some students choose not to even follow the drill at all. It is partially the teacher’s responsibility to ensure that their students are following standard procedure, however many teachers slack off. Instead of enforcing strict rules to do these drills in complete seriousness, they too brush it off.

By adding at least three more drills or spending more time on practiced drills, we may lose some “precious” time from academics. But in the end, we must decide where our priorities lie: in a book or in our own lives. Because these drills are preparation for real life, and in life, we won’t get a do-over if we don’t get it right the first time.