January 05, 2013

School Violence

I took two weeks off from my column for The Enterprise, partly because I was (am) sick and partly because I was preoccupied with the Sandy Hook tragedy.

To me, schools are places to discuss tragedies, to learn from them, to make some sense of them.

Schools are not places where tragedies occur.

Even the events of Columbine and Virginia Tech were somewhat explainable, meaning there were reasons we could look to in order to make sense of it all. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold of Columbine saw themselves as victims. Seung-Hui Cho of Virginia Tech was mentally unstable. We know so little about Adam Lanza that it's hard to find closure.

Somehow a fundamental line has been crossed and we will feel the ripple effects for a long time. Just like 9/11 changed our country, the Sandy Hook tragedy will change the world of education. Exactly how remains to be seen.

Right now we should be asking ourselves some questions. Why are the people who shoot up schools all young and male? And what can be done about it?


This week's Enterprise column (it should run Monday) is my entry into the conversation.



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