Kids Killing Kids

Hello!

Is anybody listening?

America, this is one of your children talking!

Your children are dying!

Does anybody care?

Apparently, no one does care. Two young men in Colorado spread that message loud and clear. On April 20, 1999, two senoirs at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO, came into the surburban high school armed with guns and explosives and opened fire on the students and faculty. In what was the most brutal of a rash of school shootings to date, 15 people were killed and many more were wounded. The gunmen ultimately killed themselves.

My reaction was the same as many. Shock. Dismay. Concern. Worry. Rage. Fear. "What the **** are we supposed to do?"

Why are kids killing kids? What should we do? "Kids have too easy access to guns." "These kids are troubled." "We've got to stop this from happening again." While we are sitting back wringing our hands and trying to figure out how to stop it, another "troubled" youth is stocking up on guns and planning a shooting spree of his own. Perhaps in your own town.

Yes, your town. That is meant to scare you. These shootings should scare the sin out of you. These shootings should make you want to lock up your own kids and home teach them. In President Clinton's remarks about this recent shooting, he asked that the media not refer to these shootings as an epidemic. Sorry to break it to you, sir, but it already is an epidemic.

When I graduated high school in June 1997, something like this occuring was unimaginable. Yet, that following October, a teenager in Mississippi killed two people during a school shooting. It has served as the catalyst, the Typhoid Mary, to the recent rash of school shooting that have only seemed to grow worse in their brutality.

So what caused these shootings? When questioned why he went on a shooting spree, one student said that he "had no other choice." What would cause a youth to think that way? That going on a shooting spree was his only option?

Perhaps some clues can be provided in this most recent shooting in Colorado. When questioned about the two culprits, students said that they were part of a group of students that were more or less chatised by the rest of the student body. They were part of a clique referred to as the Trench Coat Mafia because they usually favored long black coats and the Gothic look popularized by Marilyn Manson. One student referred to the group as a bunch of "nerds, geeks, and dweebs trying to find someplace to fit in." During the shooting, the culprits seemed to target the more popular students of the student body.

It also seems that the other students involved in the previous shootings seemed to hold a grudge with society. These kids were "troubled" and no one seemed to care. They finally lashed out in this violent way to call attention to the fact that they were "troubled." But why would they resort to such brutal violence to say, "Yo, something's bugging me?"

The answer lies in our own society, in which many of our nation's youth are falling between the cracks. Teenagers are trying to find their own identity and are not being helped in any way to find it, even by their own parents. Compared to the war in Kosovo, the staggering hunger and poverty in Africa or the human rights abuses in China, a 13-year-old's problems with acne, schoolwork and acceptance seem rather petty, but, to a 13-year-old, they are just as important. And they are easier to fix since, most of the time, a teenager just needs a listening ear to vent her anger and frustration about these problems and maybe a little advice.

However, no one is listening. Teenagers are expected to handle more responsibilities than ever, but are getting less support than ever. They are getting jobs at fifteen. They are carrying around beepers and cell phones. They have their own cars and pay a lot of their own bills. They become "latchkey kids" (kids that stay at home without any supervision) as young as eight years old. Our school systems, to keep up with the rest of the world, are beefing up the school's curriculum with college-level subjects. By the end of high school, graduates are thrust into the work force at 17, 18 and 19. Some teenagers are even forced to become parents. In short, these children are being ushered into adulthood before they are quite ready.

Studies have proven that a child with too many responsibilities will suffer later in life because of it. If a child is not allowed to be a child, then he will respond in the only way he is capable: by lashing out and/or getting depressed. A child will react in this way because he has not yet developed the appropriate coping skills to deal with the type of stress that these adult responsibilities bring.

But no one seems to care that these children cannot mentally handle the stress. In fact, when a child seems stressed out, our nation's doctors and psychiatrists recommend medications such as Paxil, Prozac, or Ritalin. They have stopped trying to take the time to find the cause of a teenager's anxiety or depression, thinking that the medications will solve the problem. All these medications do is suppress the teenager's natural response to mask the fact that there is a real problem, which can usually be fixed by a simple recommendation to cut back on activities or pursue a new hobby.

Another problem in our society is that we look to our schools as day care centers rather than a places of learning. Many parents send their children off to school, trusting that they will get the guidance they need while being educated. However, many schools have between 1,500 to 2,000 students a year and only about five counselors that serve to guide these students through their high school careers. That is 300 to 400 students that these counselors are held responsible for and are expected to help students through academic and social woes. The average class size is about 30 students. Teachers usually teach six different classes a day, so that is 180 students that a teacher deals with each day. With so many students, it is impossible to deal with every individual student's problems. So some students get understandably frustrated when their concerns are overlooked.

Sometimes, when these frustrated students to go the teacher or counselor with their concerns, they are snubbed for the student with a "brighter" future or the more popular student that everyone loves. When they try to bring their greivances to their parents, they are sometimes snubbed once again. Perhaps the parents think the students are overreacting or that they can handle the problem on their own. Whatever the reason, the students are forced to deal with their problems on their own and go to their friends for comfort.

But what if the student is a social outcast, rejected by his peers for some reason? Maybe he is chastised for being homosexual. Maybe she is teased for being biracial. Maybe he keeps to himself because no one he knows likes to read fantasy novels. Maybe she is rumored to be the "class slut." Maybe he is the "nerd" that always wrecks the teacher's curve. Maybe she is a shameless "teacher's pet." What if the student has no peers from whom he will receive a willing ear?

If a teenager thinks there is no one with whom to share her concerns, then she feels trapped. She has all of these confusing thoughts jumbled in her head with no outlet. So she has no choice but to bottle up her feelings until she can safely express them. What if she can't express them and must keep them inside for a long time? It will eventually accumulate until she can no longer hold it in and either lashes out or breaks down.

The "bottling up" is an unhealthy practice nurtured by our "me first" culture. In movies and television, we see countless episodes that state: "Don't bother me with your problems because I have my own." In the WB series Duncan, Zoe, Jack and Jane, a wheelchair-bound character uses her condition to gain her own selfish desires. Another series from the WB, called Unhappily Ever After, features a family so shallow that you would crack your head trying to dive into it. The youngest member of the family is continuously snubbed by his family members in favor of their own petty concerns. The older family members even laugh as the child, feeling alone and rejected, walks out of the room. Movies such as Heathers, Jawbreaker and Clueless all feature shallow people that you would love to just strangle.

However, the media has looked over these allusions to our "me first" culture and pointed a finger of blame at the Goth culture because of the shooting's links to it. They have blamed artists such as Marylin Manson and Ozzy Osborne for driving these kids to kill. They have condemned such movies as The Crow and Interview with the Vampire for fueling the rage that drove these kids to kill. However, these movies have nothing to do with the shooting. These mediums, while violent, all have underlying truths -- realities that these kids perceive. These kids were rejected by their peers and saw these mediums as something they could relate to. The whole idea of the Goth culture is apathy and taking life as it comes, not becoming violent or trying to fight back.

If the Goth culture is not to blame, what is? What caused these kids to kill 15 people? The answer is obvious if we can stand a good look in the mirror: our "me first" culture, which overlooks those who are struggling and makes teenagers grow up too fast.