Ted Re... Further, it was not unusual to hear gunfire day and nite in many neighborhoods in the city. But its in the suburbs where there has been a dramatic increase in the ability to access guns. Whether thru family or friends, suburban kids have many more contacts to get guns.<<<<<<<<<<
While all of these things are true, it is not true that guns are more available now as opposed to 30 yrs ago. Guns were always available. What has changed is that now a lot more people are packing guns. We used to settle our arguments with our fists, now they use guns. But anyone could have boughten a gun easier 30 yrs ago than you can purchase one now.
So they react to situations spontaneously and recklessly without a lot of forethought. The kid in S.D., I am sure, thought he would be considered a hero among his "outsider" friends for killing their oppressors. It was probably the high light of his fantasy. Instead, he has ruined his life....something he won't understand fully for at least another 5 years. And in the meantime, two kids are dead who should be sleeping in their beds tonite.
This is unfortunately also true. I really think we have to set up our high schools like our colleges where the kids can choose their high school, and classes and to some degree, what kind of school they wish to attend. I think most of the problems stem from kids who don't want to be there, who can't seem to find a better way change their situation. So they lash out. We really need to find a way to make high school an enjoyable period of one's life. The kids need to realize high school is there for their benefit, and we as a society, need to back off, and let them decide, they would be better off in school. We haven't seen this type of violence in college, my guess is that the trouble makers who go to college, decide to leave before they get to the boiling point.
Another point I would like to make is that we should be teaching kids at a younger age,(kindergarden or beginning school) that the kind of picking on the nerd behavior does happen and we need to teach the kids not only how destructive it is, but also how the kids should deal with it. And if they can't deal with it, we need to allow them to change their environment. You are right that the teachers can't ignore the problem, but rather than trying to stop the problem; because I believe these problems are so common, it will be impossible to stop the problem;I believe we need to address the problem before violence rears its ugly head. It is easy to blame the guns, but to be effective, we need to address the underlying causes of the violence. |
