The students and professors had overwhelming numbers. I truly wonder if our society has contributed to the "every man for himself" attitude that seemed to have prevailed, or if Cho's attack was merely swiftly and violently executed so swiftly that people were caught that off guard. It does seem that there was at least one classroom where students barricaded the door, and that minimal use of their one advantage (i.e. strength of numbers) apparently saved more than just a few lives.
You said — “It does seem that there was at least one classroom where students barricaded the door, and that minimal use of their one advantage (i.e. strength of numbers) apparently saved more than just a few lives.”
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There were two kinds of situations in that case, from what I understand from reading about it. One kind was that Cho had already entered and left. Then the remaining students blocked the entry. The deed was done, they acted after the fact. However, they did prevent him from re-entering.
The second type of situation took some *recognition* of what the noise was. In one that I read about, someone did get sort of scared and maybe did have an “inkling” of what it was, but wasn’t 100% sure, so he and another person acted, after an initial hesitation, though — and then barred the door. The shooter never made it into that classroom.
The *key* in this second one was *RECOGNITION* — as many reported that they thought it was construction or workers doing things in the building. So, “recognition” played a big part there. I have heard *many* things that have sounded alarming in all sorts of situations that I’ve been in, but have either found it to be nothing (when I saw what it was), or found that it was nothing, because I never did see anything at all.
Now — right here — I can think of a great “method” for training. Take students into different environments and let them *hear* different kinds of shooting, so they can gain an understanding and a recognition of what it sounds like in enclosed areas or other environments. Most have never heard the noise...
So..., those are the two types that I’ve read about...