Ideas on How to Prevent School Shootings

At the time of this writing (April 20, 2007), another school shooting tragedy has yet come upon us. We fixate on it for awhile, sensationalizing the tragedy, then we will go on with our lives. The sensationalization of the event goes on to perpetuate the shooter's feeling that his life was insignificant and that this was the only way to get attention. But, this will happen again and again till we understand what the root cause is. The parents and the schools often pass the buck back and forth, but each of us needs to be willing to act even if the others don't.

COMMON THEME: TOTAL ALIENATION AND BEING OSTRACIZED

A core theme in school shootings is that the perpetrators, so far always boys, felt shamed, ignored, ridiculed, bullied, oppressed, unloved, persecuted, not cared about, alienated, depressed, and with no hope or reason to live, and this caused feelings of being angry and full of rage. However, in most cases, killers did not "snap", they strategically planned their revenge, which gives us more of a chance to solve the problem.

ENCOURAGE STUDENTS/CHILDREN TO OPEN UP

The answer -- as the shooters say it -- lies not as much in more security till schools are like prisons -- but in more listening and encouraging children to open up. Encouraging a potential shooter to open up could reveal the inner turbulence before it is too late. Many would have told someone the truth if anyone had bothered to ask. Encouraging other students to open up could result in tips that lead to the potential shooter that prevent a tragedy. Realize that he usually will tell friends but not usually an adult unless they ask him. Many want someone to find out...and are honest when asked.

PREVENT BULLYING AND TEASING

Secondly, we need to realize that exclusion, teasing, and bullying, causes real emotional scars, and not just pass them off as things that kids do. There should be a confidential system that can report these abuses.

STICKS AND STONES BREAK BONES BUT WORDS *CAN* HURT

Personally, I still feel bad about teasing that happened to me 20 years ago. Although, yes, teachers have their hands full -- and I know because I was tutoring in the school system and assisting teachers -- there needs to be curriculum required by law to be taught to the students on how to treat all people and all students with respect, and teasing and bullying ought not to be tolerated. However, this is even difficult to enforce, because teenage students can react against discipline, and many parents are busy focussing on their careers and may not have time to check up on their children.

RESULT FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH A SHOOTER

Result from interview with a unnamed shooter: adults should pay attention and talk with their students and children. He killed because people like him are mistreated every day. I don't want to give more examples - due to not wanting to sensationalize the issue.

HERE'S MY LIST OF WAYS OF PREVENTION THAT ARE EVEN MORE EFFECTIVE THAN TIGHTER SECURITY: USE IT TO DO WHAT YOU CAN WHEREVER YOU ARE FOR PREVENTION

*Parents who listen and who encourage their children to open up and share concerns
*Parents who discipline their kids and train them right
*Teachers who listen (and intervene when parents won't)
*School board who takes threats seriously
*Curriculum and classroom management that effectively curtails people being left out, bullied, and teased
*Parents who know what is in their kids' rooms and in their journals. Poetry from school shooters is often full of violence and despair.
*Teach students and children to report it to the proper adult if threats of violence or suicide are mentioned by other kids or classmates.
*School administrators need to take bullying seriously
*Reduce barriers to students to relate what they know
*Take red flags seriously
*Other students should take proactive role in stopping what they are aware of
*Gun control laws to take guns out of the hands of emotionally volatile teens
*Parents should not allow children access to guns and should know if their child has a gun from anywhere else
*Teachers should be allowed to possess guns in a lockup.
*Make the penalty so severe and cut the fame.
*For someone who was bullied and teased and/or basically ignored, fame is a motivator. Stop glorifying/sensationalizing it. Could we make a law that bans media sensationalizing on this topic? Fame is exactly what fuels this!
*Monitor student and child usage of television and violent video games.

Do you have any ideas on how we can stop this recent national trend? If you do, make a comment on this article and tell me what you think.

I know that there are no clear cut solutions, and there are the people that say "Don't blame the parents" and the people on the school board who say, "It is the parents' responsibility to monitor their child," but if we ALL did a little bit -- to pay attention to the children in our lives -- and to know what they are doing and restrict their access to weapons -- we would have safer schools, and the lives of our children would be safer.

Prevent deaths from bullying: stand up against it when you see it. Remember, as an African proverb says: "It takes a village to raise a child." We are all responsible for what happens, and we can all make a difference.

For a 19 page PDF file with even more information on how YOU can personally make a difference in preventing school shootings, and interviews with the school shooters where they state why they did it, go to http://powerreporting.com/files/shoot.pdf.