Columbine -Type Students In American Public Schools :: science

Columbine -Type Students In American Public Schools Don’t â€Å"kid† yourself. There’s trouble in paradise that escapes the vision of folks wearing rose-colored glasses. I’m not a contemporary Chicken Little running around screaming â€Å"The sky is falling!† And I’m not a little boy crying out â€Å"Wolf!† I am a former English teacher with thirty-four years classroom experience. I’ve taught through wars, recessions, political assassinations and public anti-war protests. I’ve seen and broken-up hundreds of bloody â€Å"student† fights. I’ve been threatened by enraged â€Å"students† and by their irate â€Å"parents.† Been there; done that! Columbine-type â€Å"students† attend most high and middle schools across the country. They attend Hammonton High, Hammonton Middle, Edgewood, Oakcrest and even Beverly Hills High. They might not always wear trench coats and carry concealed guns and grenades. But the Columbine â€Å"student† mindset is definitely present. These troubled Columbine-type youths are scarier than the obnoxious wise guys that daily defy teacher authority and they are more frightening than the â€Å"student† bullies that terrorize weaker peers and start brawls in the school cafeteria or hallways. The tacit behavior of Columbine-like students makes them a formidable challenge to school authority. Sure, high schools have â€Å"peer mediation.† The basic problem is that these â€Å"Columbine-like† students don’t want to communicate with representatives of standard academic school society. The sinister-minded teens often don’t even communicate with each other. That’s what makes them walking and sitting time-bombs ready to detonate. They prefer having an insular existence that does not want to be disturbed. They don’t express themselves until it’s too late. The â€Å"Columbine student mentality† has a certain behavioral â€Å"profile.† That’s right all you politically correct critics out there, I emphatically stated the improper word â€Å"profile.† The kids say little or nothing at all. They keep their feelings and thoughts mainly to themselves while sitting in their desks, often seething beneath cool external faà §ades. Columbine-type kids seldom participate in classroom discussions or volunteer to do constructive things in school. To them athletics, school clubs and awards are not worth pursuing. Their rebellion is silent, stealthy, cold, cunning and calculated. Their ongoing rage is adroitly camouflaged; they could erupt and explode at any minute. These kids, probably around five percent of any middle or high school’s student body, are individual sticks of dynamite ready to be lit. Not even the â€Å"students’† guidance counselors have any psychological handle on what these wily youths are thinking, feeling or plotting. The Columbine-type kid often feels picked-on, frustrated, alienated and persecuted.