Why Is He Acting This Way?

I was reading an article in the New York Times about the Newtown school shooting when I came across this quote from a former classmate regarding Adam Lanza's behavior:

“I think that maybe he wasn't given the right kind of attention or help. I think he went so unnoticed that people didn't even stop to realize that maybe there’s actually something else going on here — that maybe he needs to be talking or getting some kind of mental help."

"In high school, no one really takes the time to look and think, ‘Why is he acting this way?’ ”

The last sentence says it all for me. In high school, it is rare to think about why some students act a certain way. Too few people ask questions like "Why is this kid always disrupting others? Why is this kid constantly getting into fights or sleeping in class?"

Sometimes this failure to get at the root cause of problems, particularly social problems, is because of good intentions gone awry. And sometimes it's because of the system itself.

Most progressive schools have started asking why kids behave in certain ways, but they are careful - sometimes overly so - not to label kids. This fear of making a judgement and thus doing further damage needs to be addressed.

Oppressive schools, on the other hand, often insist on meaningless or ritualistic conformity, a practice that can mask anti-social and other behavioral concerns as much as it squashes individuality. This practice needs to be eliminated.