If the findings of recent research are any guide, the dollars that are now spent on security devices and personnel, and the educational time now lost by involving teachers and administrators in expanding security programs, would be better spent on strategies for making schools more humane places in which learning can take place. We should look for opportunities to encourage practices like core teaching and cohort teaching, for providing smaller school and classroom settings, and for training teachers and administrators to take advantage of these settings for personalizing and individualizing instruction. Local, state, and national policies should be sought that can provide young people the opportunities, including access to employment, that will allow them a successful transition into society. It is critical to remember that the goal of education is to humanize our schools and our society, to rid them of fear, and to encourage positive and constructive interaction between and among young people and adults. If our methods betray our purpose, we will have gained little in the long run, and we will have set the stage for a still more violent future for America's next generation. (Author/PGD)