School Battlegrounds

Saturday March 24th 2001
By Paul E. K. Mullan  
OCSurfEDITORIAL@ix.netcom.com

 EDITORIAL -- I don’t understand what is going on with the children today. I know a lot of it has to do with (in an extreme comment) worthless parents, there has to be more than just that though. I am admitting now that I am not that “old.” Yet I find there is more violence in schools today than when I was in High School. All those years I think I remember one, maybe two shootings…now it has, unfortunately, become almost a weekly event. Such a shame.

 Looking back at the history of these shootings it is a rare occasion that you hear “A student is killed in the parking lot of Lincoln County H.S. by the ex-boyfriend of a girl he was dating.” (May 19^th 1998; Fayetteville, Tenn.) Out of all the records most of the reasoning is an “unknown” or the “outcast student theory.” These can be tough situations. The fact remains that I can understand more so a fight that was going on, it isn’t right don’t get me wrong. But most of these situations seem to exist for the pure reason of…who knows???

 I would have to say that Charles H. Ramsey (D.C. police chief) has a terrific point in the Washington Post, “I think the violence is the result of kids not knowing how to resolve conflict and feeling violence is the only solution to dealing with problems, and it is just as important in my opinion as reading, writing and arithmetic.” Most students in H.S. would probably sit around and say how stupid that whole idea is, but if there is “sex ed” why wouldn’t a type of anger management lesson help, heck it can’t hurt. Teach people not to pick on others. You can use the “golden rule” but also break it down to just saying you could ruin your life too. Because kids today are too selfish to go solely off of the good old fashion idea of “do to others as you wish to have done to you.”

 Then it would help to have the people that kids look up to join the battle a little. Not doing stupid P.S.A.’s but involving themselves sincerely. While I was reading an article I came across a great quote. A student Christopher L. is a student member on the Montgomery Country Board of Education. This is a great idea…have students (the ones that are actually IN the school and are impacted by the decisions) have a say. How about we put “average” students on the board though. Have some of the “out casts.” Not only valedictorian type students like Chris that talk like Dawson (the wonderful character that talks like he is 30-40 years older than he actually is) for God’s sake. “… my belief is that the same intolerance of other people’s differences that has plagued American society all of its existence is still here … The community at large can start dealing with violence at school by dealing with the intolerant and prejudiced mentality of students.” This guy is either not the average student or has a Press Secretary.

 The most sound thing I read comes from Westley Moore who is a senior at the Johns Hopkins University, as well as being a Rhodes Scholar. He as well founded a mentoring program entitled "Students Taking a New Direction." I will break it down for you, the guy is smart. He says, “The first thing I would do is put more emphasis on mental health in public schools. So many times the mental health of a child is ignored. We see a child acting out and instead of digging deeper to find out why, we just label them. ‘He or she doesn’t work hard at school.’ He or she doesn’t listen to teachers.’” That is what it comes down to, the students that are doing the acts. Look at them and their lives. Yes the parents and home might have something to do with it but at the same time don’t place all the blame on the “bad parents” or other scapegoats (such as guns).

 “I doubt if any single item is going to be the solution here. We’re going to work on this as a culture and a society to engender a sense of responsibility,” General Ashcroft told the Kansas City Star. Wow, someone is starting to make sense, much unlike Josh Horowitz states in the same article. “They want to blame everything else. I’m not saying these aren’t complicated matters, but guns are the instruments these kids are using. If you take that instrument out of their hands, the story is different. People aren’t dying.” True, but they most likely will injury people in another form. What about the good old days of meeting behind the school after school for a fist-fight. That is not a good answer to everything, but a few bloody noses is far better than the headline of “15 killed and 23 wounded at Columbine H.S.”

 The best solution is to get involved with the students before this happens, HELP the students before they feel terrorism is their only answer. A.G. Ashcroft made a very good point that trigger locks may prevent some younger children from getting to the guns. Let’s think about this for a minute though. We are all trying to kid ourselves by thinking trigger locks are going to help that much. You are expecting that your teenager child won’t be able to rid the gun of a lock … but this is the same child you have to get to set the VCR up and change the clocks. They are smarter than the average adult so why does the country think that you can out think them?

I have rid your mind of that misconception so on the last and the conclusion of my educated rant. We have these thoughts that the downtown schools are the ones with the violence. I would say from what I have seen there is more “fighting” in downtown schools in the “poor” (I hate that term but I can’t think of another way to say it) areas. These shootings are happening in suburban and rural areas though. Plus, who does the shootings at these schools? The “out casted.” Nope, not in all cases. To finish, in an article by the A.P. it is stated that three 16 year-olds were arrested in Eden, NY. They were planning an attack on their rural school. All guns in the homes were turned over from the homes, but most important listen to the description given by police. “The boys … [were] at the top of their class, popular, and involved in student clubs and athletics, were charged with second-degree criminal solicitation.”

I have learned that it isn’t going to be the people you expect, those are too well watched. Those who are forgotten or given a pass just because they are the school “jock” can be the ones that end up surprising us in the worst of ways. It isn’t just guns, they don’t help, but it is psychology and society in whole that will be the ultimate solution.

But society in whole here is lucky. We are able to flee to the outside to seek refuge (such as the students on the right), other countries aren’t so lucky (on the left violence is at every bend in Israel). So there are a lot of negative things, but our society isn’t as bad as many (including myself) would make it out to be.

My prayers go out to all of those whose lives have been affected by school shootings.

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