Nullius in Verba

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Fire Alarm

Today, once again a smart alec decided to play with the fire alarm. This has ceased to be funny. This post is a quick corollary to the moral dilemma in which we discussed whether we should tell the school if we knew who was messing with the alarms. That post had some very interesting comments. However, there were a few remarks that were fairly immature. Some said we don't need fire alarms because we can see a fire and run; or another asinine comment: that only 0.1% of people will die in a fire and that the dangers are in our head.

The teaching faculty found these comments ignorant of the realities of a fire outreak and generally quite thoughtless. Such selfish and self centred opinions where the person is only concerned about saving themselves is, frankly, beneath contempt. As a school and as a caring group of people our priority is to get EVERYONE out of the building in an orderly and calm manner. If even ONE child gets burnt - to us that's one child too many. Fire alarms are NOT playthings.

To those who believe it is possible to evacuate over 2000 people - the majority of them primary kids - in under 10 minutes without the need for fire drill, I urge you to read this article in yesterday's The National. A villa in Al Ain with a family of 6 people caught fire. The mother and two kids barely escaped. The father died. A son died. And another son died. That is a horrifying tragedy and let's hope it never happens to one of us.

If it wasn't possible for three people to escape from a villa - think of how serious the situation is trying to get 2000 people out of a school building.

NEVER underestimate the seriousness of a fire.



48 comments:

Marwan said...

Woah poor people,they didnt deserve that,no one does. They didnt even see it coming. They were just a family of six and they couldnt handle the fire imagime our school....

Mo Nour El Din said...

Sir, just a point, we lived without fire alarms for years, and we were the first ones to start a fire, as cavemen (so the story goes).

With that being said, of course I think its neccessary to have fire alarms, just not the manual ones. There was no need for anyone to own up, because the damage has been done, thus resulting in the satisfaction of seeing someone else get punished is your only benefit.

How can you compare a villa to a school? They died because, obviously, this thing is a 1/million chance of happening, so, they were not prepared. But the school is, so in no way, do I find that the villa can be compared to the school. If a fire can kill those people, who were unprepared and unknowing, then a school with drills stands a better chance.

The accusations (against manual fire alarms) that I make only seem absurd because it has never been tried. We were the first to start a fire, and now we are scared of making one? See the irony?

They died because there was no experience, and no warning. We have these special things. It's a fire alarm, a piece of electrical circuit that triggers a small metal hammer, to smack a metal plate, fitted with extra sound-enhancing mechanisms, that produce an ear-piercing sound, and we rely on this?

We do not need manual fire alarms, maybe even automatic ones. In a school yes, but in that villa, if they had bought a carbon monoxide detector and stuck it on the wall, it would have saved them. So many material things I can say can relate to saving a life. Someone is going to shoot you, you raise your laptop in the air and the bullet does not pass through. Has the laptop saved your life? No, you saved your own life, by using a material object.

Automatic fire alarms, ok fine, cannot argue with that. But, the glass-breaking ones, irrelevant and all they do is scare you, so whats the point?

Reffering back to the villa fire, you can't possibly say they died because they did not have a fire alarm, when, actually, they died because it was inevitable, like a fish trying to adapt itself to live on land. These automatic fire mechanisms can save lives, I agree, but how is it relevant to students breaking the manual ones?

"They save lives". Really? Can they really move and rescue the family, like the neighbour and the driver did? Not physically, and not even mentally. Like Daniel Alex once said in class about someone getting a heart attack from an alarm to wake that person up from sleep, and, same thing applies for these fire alarms. They just scared you. They can't haul you out of a fire. They can't whisper advice to you. Only scream in your ears, before you even know whats happening. We react faster to suprises, especially dangerous ones.

Mo Nour El Din said...

By initiating this feeling that you are always safe when next to a fire alarm, you block out the REAL meaning of safety, and you forget to watch your back, and, do you think the fire alarm will watch you back for you?

Mo Nour El Din said...

your*

Mr. Roberts said...

Mo,
Frankly, I've heard enough from you on this topic. It is obvious you have your opinion and nothing anyone says will change it.

Please remember, this is a school blog and faculty members peruse it. You may be held accountable for comments posted. Please be a little more judicious in your comments. You're not doing yourself any favours by ranting like this and nor is it impressive.

This is not a forum to post essays on topics. Succinct comments will suffice.

Ishi_S said...

OK mo I've been in a fire, it's different for you because you're just writing about it, but I've actually BEEN in one..and trust me, these instincts you speak about are of no help, had i not heard and obeyed the rules that came with the fire alarm, i probably wouldn't be here, let me just tell you that the school wouldn't spend money on these had they not been necessary. I'm really getting tired of you and your malicious comments, seriously not all of us are super humans like you and definitely don't have as sharp senses as you. By the way, fire alarms are invented to WARN not scare, I'm sorry if you get scared though, that's not the fire alarms' fault.

Unknown said...

I totally agree with Ishita. People have invented this device for a specific reason not for us to look at and GET SCARED... What if you were in a fire, which you haven't had that experience off and still think its ok not to have fire alarms. THAT WAS A VILLA, that is exactly the point, a villa compared to a school is considerably smaller and getting people out a villa would be much easier than a school, which has 2000 people not 10 which of 3 died. Fires are not started one in a million, it can happen tomorrow or anytime. FIRE is good thing is specific areas like cooking food and in science and etc but it is very dangerous aswell. Mo, everyone is just tired of hearing your contradictory comments. The reason the teachers and SLT want to find out the person behind these doings so that when we do have a real fire, a way of communicating with everyone is the fire alarm, when you break it you are telling everyone that there is a fire and everyone must evacuate. So if somebody keeps hitting this we wont know and we may think its a joke and never bother.What if the fire is not in front of our eyes, what if it was somewhere on campus but not seen by everyone which could spread to the whole school and we wouldn't know soo how then are we supposed to react and just go out of the building?

Unknown said...

False alarms always remind me of the cry wolf story and i do believe that it is immature of anyone to play with the fire alarm. Out of fun,adventure and excitement we forget that we might be playing with the life of thousands of people.
I really feel that any issue that is related to our life and others should be taken seriously and it is not to be taken as a joke in anyway. This is common sense.

Tannya D said...

Hmm..

Honestly, how stupid can some people get? After ALL of what mr.vig said about fire alarms, someone still decids to break it?

Okay, once, it could be funny. Twice, your being stupid. Thrice, hell what's WRONG with people these days. Four times, you have issues. The fifth time, AFTER being told the dangers it can cause, a kid still goes and does it; Jesus Christ, get a life. Do you seriously have nothing better to do than endanger other kids lives?

Okay so I may sound harsh - but why are these kids even in school, if all they wanna do is go against everything a teacher says? To some extent, I agree with Mo - we(mankind) did, after all, were the first ones to start a fire. And being so, it should be possible to live through it.However..that does not mean we're not supposed to keep manual fire alarms.

Fire alarms, are SO important. May it be a manual one,or an automatic one. Let's take for instance our school. Say the fires started downstairs and the students there realise theres a fire, and rush out of the school - but the majority of the school that are up on the first and second floors are still caught up there, having no idea of the fire that might just kill them. Do you not see, how important it is to have one so people can actually WARN others about a fire going on in the same place, especially in a place as big as a school, where everyones spread out in different areas?

Losing even one kid, is not a joke. Every life counts. According to me, ofcourse you can compare a villa to a school. Because either way, theres a fire, a dangerous fire burning down the place and taking lives.

At first, I didn't take the whole fire alarm thing too seriously, but after reading that article - damn. People being killed, thats just not right. So maybe the chances of there being an actual fire are really low, but after everything we've been told, how can ANYONE be dumb enough to STILL play with a fire alarm?

Also, like the article says, I think its REALLY important to have people know how to use a fire extinguisher-sure, theres always the fire brigade, but you never know when there could be a delay.

Seriously.. I think the only thing that would actually teach every one of the kids in our school a lesson is an actual fire breaking out. Not that I want people to die, I'm not that evil :P(unlike some people, the ones that don't believe in fire alarms....), but if thats what it takes to stop people from pulling such "funny" pranks, then so be it!

Tannya D.Jajal
10g2

Tannya D said...

I know that was an essay Mr. Roberts - I did read what you said to Mo.. but yeah :P

Nadine said...

To me, this sheds a whole new light on the question of "would you tell?".
The reason why, I think, some poeple are still not really convinced with the importance of the fire alarms and the significance of not breaking them like they have no value is because as some other girls have pointed out it's all in theory right now. For someone like Mo, he hasn't actually experienced being in a fire.

Let me just say this though, no matter how much information one knows or how skilled they believed they are, they need to be practical. If you know or have known someone who's fought in a war before, ask them what it's like: How much control they've got over their senses, how well their reflexes work under pressure, if they do at all?

That's the thing: Once we're under pressure, we drown in paranoia. Don't believe it if you don't want to, for now, but you know it's true. NO ONE is sensible when their life is in jeopardy, that's just abnormal: Superhuman: Non-existent.

So don't underestimate a fire alarm because of a few stats, or some common sense.How much sense does common sense make really when you're 2 seconds away from being burned alive - along with thousands of other people, and you've got only two narrow staircases for ALL the students to descend, plus the slow and young students,and the ones with special needs. No fair saying we made fire, now we're scared of it, so that's ironic. Well everything in life is a two sided sword. Too little of water can kill you. Too much of it will kill you as well. Same goes with food, and everything else in life when you think about it really.

My condolences to that family. It really is a tragic story. And at this rate we're going at in school, we could end up just like them, even if, as Mr. Roberts said, we only lose one person. That would still be tragic. Extremely tragic.

Mehvash:] said...

Right now, everytime anyone of us students in Winchester hears the fire alarm, we scorn at it. 'Pft, another hoax'. I admit it myself, today, after yet another false alarm, I glanced out of class and called out 'IS IT A HOAX OR DO WE RUN DOWN?' and a 12th grader replied 'Ahh just another fake one, run down if you want to ;)'
One day, when everyone remains in their classes, mocking the alarm, what happens when the smoke seeps in underneath the doors, what is to be done when the entire school building reeks of the burning smell of fire, but there's no time to escape since no-one takes heed to the fire alarm?
What IS a fire alarm- a device to warn of us of the coming danger of a fire. Not a means of bunking class. Not an object that's been invented to 'scare' us.
To whoever finds it extremely funny to set off the smoke-detectors in the bathroom, or to break the fire alarms down the hallways; does this article not mean anything to you? Do you not understand the consequences of these ridiculous actions? Two humans' lives were lost, had there been a fire-alarm to warn them, I'm pretty sure they would be alive this instant.
It truly is a wake up call, and we have to stop living in denial, and face the truth; it could be anyone of us next, being burnt alive, since every student is now taking the fire alarm for granted.
A fire spreads fast. It breathes, it lives upon the air it is fed, and it gets larger by the second, destructs everything in its way. It is not going to wait for every student to evacuate the building and then cause havoc; it will consume you as it travels, which is why we need this fire alarm to warn us, protect us in a way, save us by telling us to escape.

Duwane.A said...

Now what? We all know its a very, very small minority doing this. And I think after all the lectures and articles we know that they're some of the of the most down-right idiotic humans among us. But theres really not much of a chance in inserting common sense into their heads unless something disasterous and deadly happens right in front of them.

I absolutely disagree with the manual alarm systems, I really think that that smoke detectors would work brilliantly if not more effectively, detecting all types of smoke and pinpointing where it came from.

But to deal with this situation demands either justice or a very good example to be set. And when sitting in class looking at everyones reactions around, when that bell rings we know not to panic... What on earth happens when it is a real threat is beyond me...

Mo Nour El Din said...

I have been in a fire, more than once, so no need to point any fingers.

And, Mr.Roberts, what did you mean when you said : "You may be held accountable for comments posted"?

This is a school website, where we express our thoughts to you. But, it will be a whole new story if you start throwing threats at me, with all due respect. I wont comment on these fire topics any longer, and I am sorry if I have angered you in anyway, as it was not my intension.

True, my opinion stands alone against alot of others, but I do not understand the anger. I would like to talk to you privately at school, sir.

Mr. Roberts said...

Mo,
I'm not angry, just disappointed.

Sajid said...

In this comment of mine I'm going to assume that the culprit behind these thoroughly immature pranks is a guy named Mr.Culprit.

Here's my theory regarding this issue. Mr.Culprit is a relatively new student who has always had a tendency to cause trouble since the time he was an infant and since his parents have never taken the trouble to deal with this issue this tendency has only grown stronger over the years. One day, out of boredom, Mr.Culprit decides to set off the fire alarm. While he is impressed by his performance he is far more amused by the reaction of the school authorities. He sees that they are all so serious and worked up about such an issue which (in his naive mind) is no big deal. From that moment a chain reaction begins.

He pulls off the same prank a few more times each time seeing that the authorities keep getting increasingly worked up and also frustrated as they can't cath him therefore adding to his amusement which has now completely blinded him from seeing the seriousness of his childish behaviour. What Mr.Vig says on 8/10/2009 feuls his amusement even more as does seeing that even the principal of the school is unable to catch him.

Mr.Culprit is wromgly convinced that the authorities overreact to the sound of the fire alarm and every time he gets away with pulling off his prank not only does he get more amused but he also becomes more and more sure that he will never be caught.

What Mr.Culprit needs to get through his thick skull (before it's too late) is that the authorities are not overreacting and panicking but they are only being cautious, smart and considerate. If only he could do the same.

Payam H.D said...

What happened to that family is extremely sad and an unfortunate tragedy. No one deserves that kind of ending. My deepest condolences go out to the surviving members of the family.
Now, it is obvious that this/these culprits have not and probably never will learn their lessons. I honestly hope they are caught, whoever they are, and put behind bars for all I care. They don't have the tiniest, faintest clue that they are very seriously playing with the lives of over 1500 children not even counting the adults and the staff, not to mention their own pathetic lives. They think that this is just some funny joke, but let me tell you something, NOBODY'S LAUGHING SO CUT IT OUT!!
It's a real shame we can't do much about it. Sure the school staff has been assigned to monitor the fire alarms, as well as the Prefects (sigh), but we're just human and we need our breaks and that's the time these mindless jokers decide to pull their pranks.
I can only hope that something can be done to stop the guilty, so that the innocent do not suffer.
P.S. I apologise for the bluntness in my comment. :)

Sonal.Vohra said...

I heard both the alarms go off today.Im not sure where was the second one, but I heard one on the second floor.Im have a question..Did someone break the second alarm? or did it ring by itself?Because the first alarm was on for a long time until it was shut down.But the second alarm was on for about 3-4 seconds and then it went off.So I think that only one alarm was broken.

The person who pulled off the alarms, could be just one person or people belonging to the same group because they are now used to doing so.Or he/she could be a new student, since the alarm topic has recently started and I dont think so it happened in the previous year.

neineisharie said...

It really is a right pity that someone things it's excusable to toy with human lives. Sure, like a few others, I've stopped considering the ringing of a fire alarm, well, alarming and thinking back... it's stupid of me. Call me paranoid, but I do believe that it is this paranoia that can kill us...or save us.

Just something to think about, I guess.

Unknown said...

I am really disappointed at the people who do this. People just don't understand how dangerous what they are doing is. Those people are risking nearly 2000 lives. And as for Mo, a fire alarm is a life saver. Please don't forget it.

Unknown said...

It's utterly distasteful, the kind of sad life you live, whoever pulled off the alarm. You're probably a sadistic no-hoper with no life whatsoever, in fact you're a pathetic WASTE of a valuable human existence; some other soul could have made much more responsible use of it. What happened to this unfortunate family is but a tiny, tiny glimpse of the situation we would face if our school set on fire. I hope these culprits are caught, my virile fantasy is to lock them up in a room and set it on fire! Ah, the joys! :P

Duwane.A said...

Well you tend to notice how angry pupils are when Faiza starts imagining burning the culprits and calling them a waste of human life.

But I think we need to realize rambling on about it on here will not help, neither will long lectures or an invitation to the police. Unless these people come to their senses (Who knows how) I think we'll still be looking at more false alarms.

Mr. Roberts said...

I'm very relieved that so many of you are taking a sensible and practical view on this issue.

Pulling a fire alarm as a prank really ought to be a criminal offence in my view - just as pulling the emergency brake on a train for no reason is a criminal offence.

Unknown said...

I was once a phyromaniac. I set alot of things on fire and blew up alot of things. Made my own mini bomb one out of ballons, fire crackers, ducktape and smarties.

But overall I think it's just dumb to pull the fire alarm mainly because the whole thing has become obselete so there's no point in it.

Although just a few thoughts to add... is there really any danger ? we know what we have to do. The building is made of stone so it won't be able to spread ? arn't we over exagerating ?

Overall dying in a fire is a painful and brutal death (your flesh melts) My idea on people pulling the fire alarm now... I couldn't care less they can pull it as many times as they want and I won't make a single thought of them.

Mr. Roberts said...

Zaid, don't betray your ignorance in such a brazen fashion. The building is made of stone but the electric wires are not. You can't imagine how quickly an electric fire can spread - and nor can you imagine how TOXIC the fumes are.

Two breaths of poisonous fumes and you'll drop down. How do you hope to run down three flights of stairs with hundreds of kids trying to do the same and noxious fumes everywhere? Don't be selfish, for goodness' sake. Think about everyone.

Mr. Roberts said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mr. Roberts said...

The whole point of having a manual fire alarm is to indicate to everyone in the school that there's a fire. To pin blind hope on automatic alarms can be perilous. What if the automatic fire alarm near the fire happens to malfunction? That's where the manual alarms serve as back up.

People won't react rationally and logically and without panic UNLESS there have been repeated fire drills.

Did you see those people jump off the World Trade Center on 9/11? They knew they couldn't survive a hundred-storey fall. Yet they jumped? Why? - to get away from the smoke and fumes.

Two breaths of noxious fumes can drive you to do mad and desperate things. And an electric fire can do just that. People don't always die only of the fire they die of the smoke and fumes as well.

Ash said...

I felt sad after reading the horrible fire in the villa.
I seriously don't know what the person or person's who break the alarm think of themsleves. Why can't they just realise the importance and seriousness of this?
I was hoping that after all that Mr.Vig said these incidents would stop once in for all but they didn't.
Prefects have been made to stand everywhere but still it happens.
I don't know what else should be done to make 'them' stop breaking the alarms.

asima...=D said...

I am officially sick and tierd of this topic!!! when in the world are people going to learn to follow basic, simple rules, forget rules ,if you just love being a rebel, when are you going to learn to be a human???
It is sad how that unfortunate family is now torn apart by this fire and i fear us one day being in a situation were we need to evacuate immediately and there we all are laughing our heads off sitting in class thinking it is yet again a joke!!! when are people going to get serious about this?? i honestly feel my face going red with anger now!! hahaha
you know what is a shame i really think these people who are doing it have either mental issues( as they cant understand a simple instruction) or are just plain WIERDOS which cannot find other ways of being funny and "cool". when the last alarm went off it happened right after a prefect left her duty, she was getting late for class and asked a teacher if it would be ok if she left as getting to class is also a priority and just a split second after she left the alarm rang which means someone was deliberately waiting for her to leave so that they can play their prank!!! there are some of us (students, teachers, prefects, etc) who are sacrificing our time to baby sit these immature students!! im sure we all would appreciate it if we could know and put a stop to these students who are playing with our lives!!!
* sowi for the essay!!! i guess I'm just really disappointed now!!

Mr. Roberts said...

Asima,
I agree fully with your comment.

Yusra Shah said...

It’s really poignant that some people don’t understand the magnitude of a fire alarm.

I strongly agree with Ashwatha, “Even after all mr.vig people still don’t take this seriously.”

To some idiots this 'breaking the fire alarm' thing sounds like a really ‘cool’ thing to do....."What’s going to happen it’s just a fire alarm?"

"Just a fire alarm?”……….look at the level of stupidity....


'They' will only understand the significance of a fire alarm when they're actually in a exceedingly dreadful situation (god forbid…I’m just getting really aggravated)


REASONS TO GET EDUCATED......SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!

Leah Simon said...

What I don't understand is why people aren't getting how serious this is. A real fire- now that's SCARY! Why don't people just learn to value their own lives if not others? I mean, a false alarm could obviously (God forbid) kill the person who sent off the alrm along with so many other people. It's like how Tannya said- are they so stupid that they don't realise that it is lives they are playing with?
Completely agree with Yusra- reasons to get education!

Unknown said...

I read the comments posted above, especially the rantings of Mo Nour El Din....well, first of all to break or damage manual fire alarms provided by the school for the protection of the students whether useful or not, boils down to vandalism... No responsible student has a right to play with the lives of others.

A tragedy is a tragedy, and even a negligible possibility of hope of saving lives is better than having none. nobody decides who lives and who is expendable.

The casual attitude of some of the students is appalling and to wait for a fire or a tragety to occur to drill some sense into them, i know is unrealistic. Lets just say manual or electronic alarms are just a few means that the school provides for the safety and well being of the students.

It is our duty to appreciate their efforts and it is a disgrace to have even one student disagreeing with the importance of the same.

Mr. Roberts said...

You're right Sanjana, it is vandalism. But do it over and over again - it starts to become criminal.

Unknown said...

given the fact that this was my first fire drill iv ever had,im impressed at the level of safety and awareness this school has for the students,
in my previous school,every two seconds another fire alarm would go off and the teachers didnt careless,and neither did we,i dont remember a time when a fire alarm would go off and we would be concerned about it and wonder if there could be a fire,not even when i was a young child,all i remember was that everytime the firealarm would go off all heads across my classroom n all other classrooms in the school would b looking down at their watch wondering and hoping the class was over
and truely in the position we were in we would definatly be like the family that wasnt prepared
but then again,even though we've had fire drills and know what to do,whenever a fire alarm goes off,i notice the same thing that i noticed in my previous school,
both teachers and students dont care about the alarm,
and though we've had fire drills,we wouldnt be much bothered about the fire alarms because of the false alarms,and would be cought by surprise when being overwhelmed by smoke and flames








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Unknown said...

I think being burnt alive or dying of toxic fumes is one of the most painful ways to die... along with drowning.
I don't even want to think of me, my family or my friends in a situation like this.

Unknown said...

Oh and the person who keeps pulling the alarms needs a punch that would freaking shock their pre-mature system.

Unknown said...

I agree with Myra! but then again, the more dependant we get on these doodads (fire alarms included), the more we alienate ourselves from the one thing we have truly relied on for centuries; Human Instinct. I have been in a fire and quite frankly, the fire alarm did nothing more than clog my mind with irritation. I think fire alarms are useful, but let US run the machines please, instead of machines running us.

Oh and yes! pulling a fire alarm is NOT funny!

Mr. Roberts said...

Daniel,
If you are on the third floor and there's a fire in reception, our "human instinct" won't be of much use. We won't know about the fire until the smoke and fumes reach us on top. Valuable seconds will be lost if no one pulls the fire alarm to let everyone know there's a fire. And an alarm is just that - a warning. If it had a pleasant melodic sound, it would defeat the purpose. :)

Fire alarms don't run our lives. They're there as a back up in an emergency. It's only the vandals who keep breaking it who force us to think about it all the time.

Unknown said...

Ummm Mr Roberts.

I'm a misanthrope. That should be able to explain my comment

Unknown said...

the more i listen to these false fire alarm stories the more i feel like bashing up the stupid kids who find this funny! i don't understand how can something so serious be taken as a joke. the authorities should take a dramatic step against such behavior and i hope such actions are never repeated again.The article in the newspaper was really freaky , it made me realize how obnoxious boys these days are becoming.

Mr. Roberts said...

Oh ok Zaid, thanks for clearing that up. So now we know if we're in trouble you won't be helping us out because you're a misanthrope : )

But, not to worry, if you ever need our help, I'm sure we'll help you out.

Anonymous said...

Oh wow, love the discussion going on here,
Anyways, i was horrified reading this! Like Marwan said nobody deserves that. Whoever keeps playing the little fire alarm game seriously needs to stop. I mean i'm not saying just fixing the fire alarm is enough to assure we can be safe if (god forbid) a fire does happen, its about us as well to be responsible when exiting the building in an orderly yet quick fashion. Plus there is always the chance of delay with the firefighters, not a big one, but its always a possibility.

Aliza said...

That's true that we never know when a tragedy will strike us. So having fire alarms and extinguishers installed is a necessary and important move. It can save many lives.
And think about the driver and the neighbour. They didnt need to enter the building, but they did, without a trace of selfishness. They are the unsung heroes of our world. Unlike the people who go around playing with fire alarms, looking for fun. It has indeed ceased to be funny. In the beginning, I didnt think much of it, but now, even after so many warnings, how could people be so shameless?

Mehvash:] said...

Hah, Sir, that's exactly what I told Zaid.

If anything ever happened to him, or if he was about to be burnt alive, every other person in school would try their best to help him. If his life was lost, everyone would care; misanthrope or not.

-_-

Anonymous said...

I hope that the story that all of us learnt when we were in kindergarten doesn’t repeat itself in reality.. the story of the young boy who used to cry out “wolf, wolf” for the fun of it and when there an actual wolf no one turned up to help him.. fire alarm systems can be used to notify people to evacuate in the event of a fire but some ignorant people don’t understand the seriousness and consequences of this issue.. I seriously feel that some people just love misusing the freedom given to them by the staff and also since there’s no particular penalty for this act everyone considers it a “game” …. I would also like to point out few of us in school don’t value these fire alarms any more since all the alarms were false alarms… therefore I hope we as students understand the social responsibility each of us hold to make our life and lives better and safer.. :)

Unknown said...

mr roberts, i know you feel strongly about messing with fire alarms. and i back you up on that because i too get very frustrated when i hear the fire alarm at school. what immature students at our school fail to understand is that they might get a kick out of pulling a fire alarm but because of the continuous number of times this has happened, every other student in our school has become oblivious to it. as in, when we hear the fire alarm, we dont bother even looking up from our work cause we all jsut think "oh its another prank",
but what if it's not a prank next time? and it's because of these kind of people that our lives may be in danger. like you mentioned in your post, sir, if 6 people cant get out of a villa, how will 2000+ students manage to escape a school building?

Nnamdi said...

wow how many were broken again?really i think whoever is doing this has a heart made out of stone.
But i hope they are caught soon before anything serious happens.
Nnamdi.