Last week we were shocked by the tragic massacre at Chardon High School near Cleveland, Ohio. Three students were killed and two wounded when a 17-year-old student opened fire.
Each time a tragic incident involving schools, guns, children and victims reaches the front page, a chorus of soul-searching follows with an almost predictable immediacy:
What is happening to our children? Who is to blame? And why do we lead the world in school shootings?
The litany of these horrible acts is long and distressing: 13 dead in Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado in 1999; 32 at Virginia Tech in 2007; six at Northern Illinois University-DeKalb in 2008.
But there is a problem with the research, analysis and commentary on these school shootings: it only focuses on the terrible tragedies where one or more students suddenly begins killing others at random.
The cases of chronic violence, which occurs repeatedly and is ongoing, are never explored--and these comprise the vast majority, causing untold devastation and grief.
While massacres and tragic shootings by crazed individuals occur in schools of all economic levels, with varying racial makeups, chronic violence in school tends to be concentrated in lower income areas, where the majority of students are usually Latino or black.
The truth is there is more violence in our schools than we realize. Many more tragic incidents than what we read and what rivets us. And this has occurred for years.
Many schools look more like fortresses, with high fences, metal detectors and armed police on campus. For years the shootings and violence has gone underreported. This violence is common; a pervasive presence in many of our schools. And the solutions go far beyond what is discussed for more famous tragedies like Columbine, Virginia Tech or Chardon High. They involve investing more in public education at all levels, addressing chronic unemployment, eradicating domestic violence and facilitating community involvement.
I remember the day after the Virginia Tech massacre; dozens of schools in Southern California were closed, as authorities feared "copycat" actions. But violence and fear didn't attack those schools on that day. They have inhabited them long ago.
In these schools there are children who insult, humiliate, attack, steal, hit, maim and kill; children who surreptitiously bring knives onto campus, as well as marijuana and crystal.
This violence and fear is an extension of what occurs in their own barrios.
Back to 2012, a quick look at the latest news helps us to put this latest event in perspective: one week ago, a bomb threat at Colleton County High School in South Carolina "disrupted most of the school day Tuesday for students, teachers, staff, parents."
On February 21, in Austin, Texas, McCallum High School was placed on lockdown and nearby Ridge Top Elementary was heavily scrutinized amid reports that a shot may have been fired.
And just last week, one person was killed and another wounded in a shooting outside the Los Angeles High School.
All-school lockdowns are frequent in these institutions; in some, they occur almost monthly.
Violence may be related to gang identity. In South High School in Torrance, California, a school known for its academic excellence and very low crime, a student was warned not to wear a red shirt because it denoted allegiance to a gang known as the Bloods. That student was my son. The kid who warned him was wearing blue, the color of the rival Crips gang.
Violence could be related to inter-ethnic conflict. In Compton, Inglewood and South Central Los Angeles there have been confrontations between African-American and Latino students, now the majority in this area.
Yes, massacres like those that occurred at Virginia Tech, Columbine and now, Chardon, Ohio are more compelling. And it is easier to explain that the perpetrators are crazy, alienated individuals, social deviants, or, like a report points out, anti-depressant users, than that, in reality, they mirror our society.
This statement, made by the FBI, is simple and true: "School shootings and other forms of school violence are not just a school's problem or a law enforcement problem. They involve schools, families, and the communities."
So, although we must protect our children by making access to firearms by perpetrators almost impossible, the solution to the more generalized, random but daily violence in schools goes well beyond individuals. The answer must be universal, and must address serious societal problems.
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This means abandoning all centrally imposed curriculum and testing.
AND Democratizing schools. Empower students.
Sounds ridiculous. Then how about one experiment? Think of how many experiments there have been and how much money has been poured into trying to save the compliance system. The compliance system has been rejected by the lower classes because it offers them nothing.
Children cannot learn autonomy or self-respect when the institution of school is a form of slavery.
Charter schools in such environments are improvements if and only if they discriminate against violent and / or disruptive students who keep other students from learning. To the extent that such schools siphon off the best and most dedicated students, the remaining schools become worse environments.
There are about 3500 kids crammed on campuses built for 2000, not so in PTA influenced San Marino. PTA is spurned in the hood where parent centers & people running them are paid and must defer to principals, to cuts in arts, music and staff. smkids who have state of the art resources and tutors. This seems biased, sir. I don't know why white kids go on shooting sprees at schools I know my students get murdered in the hood and see school as a sanctuary. I have wondered why they don't shoot up their schools which are dirty, cheerless and feeding them into
But like you, he is the exception; not the rule.
When the shooter is black or brown, we simply ignore it and look the other way. Instead in all cases, we need to identify the true source of the violence. In the most recent shooting, more than likely mental illness and an abusive dysfunctional home was at the root of his behavior.
As you point out, inter-ethnic and gang violence are the causes for much violence in the schools but this is still a community and educational problem that can be address. Just as we are provided tools for students to deal with bullying, we can provide tools for handling gang violence and inter-ethnic conflict. It is the only way to save our children.