School Shooting
It seems that there has been a school shooting right up the road from Knoxville today at Campbell County High School (WVLT Story here) Based on the current news ALL THE STUDENTS ARE FINE, but the principal and two assistent principals were shot. There will be more news coming as the press gets closer to the story.
Our question in this is why does this continue to happen? People brought knives to school when I was in school, but never cut anyone. My father tells of kids brings guns to school to work on them in shop class. No one got shot. Yes, I know about Charlie Starkweather, but minus Starkweather you did not hear about this stuff until the 80’s.
As time goes on, I think most school shootings are a result of fewer students understanding that life is tough. It seems that today SOME kids only know violence as a response to things getting tough. Failures in and by society, parents, schools, churches, etc all deserve some of the responsibility for that.
In the end though SOME kids today just do not know how to deal with conflict, stress, disappointment, and failure. Lessons in those areas start at home, should be reinforced in society and in school, and should be internalized for life. Coping and dealing with tough times is key to surviving. It is unfortunate that a few bad kids that do not understand personal responsiblity and mature reaction give a lot of GOOD kids a bad name. Kids need to understand that there is a price for their actions. At some point when they act out / up, society will step in and there will be a price to pay.
WATE has a updated story (Story here). They report the following –
Assistant principal Ken Bruce was killed. Principal Gary Seale was wounded but managed to tackle the student and taken into custody.
Another assistant principal, Jim Pierce, as shot in the chest.
We post again on the school shooting on November 9th – here
Frank, I have just finished reading this in the Aussie papers, its so sad, these kids definitely need help, as you say. Take care my friend.
Be encouraged!
GBYAY
Comment by
John — 11/8/2005 @ 6:24 pm
Children do not know how to handle conflict, disappointment or failure because they have never been told that these things are a part of life. We have done a great disservice to children in this country by always stressing how “special” they are and that they will (should?) always receive the best and most that there is. As a teacher, I see the results of this everyday – a lack of respect for ANY authority figure (or any other human being, for that matter) and a feeling of entitlement. They believe they deserve everything – without doing the work that is necessary to achieve greatness. I am afraid each day when I walk in the classroom that one of these “special” kids will snap because I have bruised his fragile ego by insisting that he act as a responsible student in the classroom and actually WORK for rewards and recognition. Who will be next?
Comment by
Dawn — 11/8/2005 @ 11:31 pm
Thanks for the encouragement John and Dawn, being the son of a school principal, I more then understand what you are talking about. It is unfortunate that so many kids have no idea how to deal with “life” today. Dawn, thanks for the job you do, it is tough, but it is a job that offers some rewards that are beyond explaination.
Comment by
admin — 11/9/2005 @ 8:06 am
[...] My bottom line question is not what could have been done to prevent this case, but what will parents, teachers, and society in general do to help prevent these actions in the future. As we noted yesterday – here – everyone is involved in the problem, but the bottom line issue comes down to families are not families anymore, due to all the issues in and around them, and kids do not know how to deal with life stresses, failures, and burdens. They deal by becoming violent and they are told their feelings are always valid and good – their feels are not always good and their feelings are usually selfish. [...]
Pingback by Swap Blog » School Shooting - update — 11/9/2005 @ 9:30 am
Swap Blog,
Great Blogsite and Great story about the Campbell County School shooting.
I get it……Your comments about yesteryears gone by are so true…
I myself remember taking a pocket knife to school, never a gun, but If someone had a fight with another student(bully). we had a fist fight. Right or wrong, fist fight is normal.
These yutes today,have been reasied so differently than you or I. They have been not allowed to solve problems the proper way. Parents today seem to try and fix everything for them, Parents don’t spend the time with their children, TEACHING them about life’s conflicts and how to handle them.
This Murdurer is a problemed child…..not that I feel sorry for him. What is done, is done, it’s probably too late for him. The shooter needs to pray to God for help there but until Parents wake up and get their PRIORITIES in the right place. I ‘am afraid this type of frustration is going to continue.
I am so glad that I do not have any children in the Public School’s schools, any longer.
Keep up the good Blog……..ps. I am going to link my blog to yours…..
Comment by
Paul and Donna Herrmann — 11/10/2005 @ 4:44 am
It is truly heartbreaking to see today’s media and entertainment reflected in our youth’s actions. As adults become desensitized to the “arts and entertainment” sector, our youth is plugging into it and letting it influence their behavior. However, I agree with some of the theories of modern day parenting in these other posts. What ever happened to letting your kids make mistakes and learning from them? It is really a full circle answer to why things like this keep happening. Everyone is to blame.
Comment by
Jessie — 11/10/2005 @ 4:08 pm