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...
This is why I have a problem with the administration for not immediately alerting the students that a killing had just accurred in a dorm. Even if they had not shut down the campus, the students would have realized the sounds were gunshots. They may have acted differently and saved lives.
The heroes of Flight 93 only took the actions that they did because they were aware that the "rules" for dealing with a hijacking had changed.
I understood that a female teacher went briefly into the hallway, walked back into the classroom, and said "block the door". Which they successfully did.
This would make sense since in another account the hallway was described as a gruesome scene, presumably one or more dead and bleeding bodies (yet another account said a teacher tried to stop Cho in the hallway and was shot, another that a ROTC student did the same thing).
The heroic Israeli teacher makes agreat deal of sense, since the "doctrine" of public spaces in Israel is caution and self-defense. He heard the shots and knew what to do because of his Israeli "doctrine".
If the Islamists continue on the path they seem to be treading, it would make sense for American schools at all levels to take some lessons from the Israelis, and to offer threat orientation and perhaps even Krav Maga self-defense training in the colleges. The kids at VT were absolutely oblivious about the threat they were facing, and had no response training even if they had known.