The Columbine Complex

I've been to a lot of schools before.

Montrose Christian School - Rockville MD (private)
Westland Middle School - Bethesda MD (public)
New Providence High School - New Providence NJ (public)
Columbia Preparatory School - New York NY (private)

Each one of them had bullies and victims of bullies. The private schools were usually more mellow than the public ones, but sometimes the opposite was the case. In each instance, there were a select few kids whom I knew personally that had a Columbine Complex. They were the social outcasts, the kids who got picked on whenever they raised their voice in class or in the lunchroom. They were angry at those who picked on them; so angry that stronger provocations would have sent them over the edge. One of the kids I knew well often talked about what It would be like to blow up the school. Neither he nor the other kids I knew were sociopaths; they just got messed with too often.

Some of the problems our education system have faced in the last century include school shootings, suicides, pervasive drug use, and clinically depressed children. Rather than solving the source of these problems, we treat the symptoms. We encourage our students to be on the lookout for the next school shooter. We offer them suicide prevention hotlines, host 'Freedom from Chemical Dependency' groups, and prescribe them antidepressant medication - none of it is effective in the long term. The source of all of these problems lies in the way our schools are structured; the classroom setting discourages interstudent communication, encourages competition for the sake of grades, and promotes hostility by putting large numbers of people in small spaces - cafeterias are a classic example. Recess has been all but eliminated, and lunchtime has become a rushed process. In my opinion, extensive security systems are the main reason there haven't been more cases of armed violence at school.

I believe that If these problems are to be dealt with, the system must be changed. Students should be encouraged to communicate and work together at every opportunity, with curriculums favoring group projects and presentations over individual homework assignments and testing. Given greater opportunities for open dialogue, physical and verbal aggression could be quelled before it even starts. Students would come to a consensus on Issues such as Socioeconomic differences, sexual Identities, and friendships and romances in a peaceful manner if they were allowed to talk about them more.

A cautionary example - the Larry King shooting. Had the children at this school been allowed to talk openly about the LGBT community, which almost never happens on a middle school level, they could've come to an understanding about their gay classmate. They wouldn't have felt threatened by him and would probably even be friends with him. This was not the case, and you can see the consequence. Here's the Wikipedia article of the event;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.O._Green_School_shooting

In sum - allow kids to talk amongst themselves more. Otherwise they become ticking time bombs, despite your best intentions. I call it the Columbine Complex for a reason; watch the movie 'Elephant' If you need further clarification.