Entry #31 - April 26, 1999


"How can teachers intervene in this negative spiral before a lonely, angry child becomes a socially isolated, hostile teenager who becomes an armed and dangerous individual with "payback" plans on his mind?"

We'll all remember where we were, and what we were doing, when we heard about it. Like the death of John Lennon, or the Kennedy assassination to an earlier era, the Colorado tragedy will endure as a seminal moment in our personal and collective history. I was rooting about at our district's arts recycling center, in a nearby school basement. Because of our citywide public transit strike, a local radio station was audible on the public-address system. Suddenly, amid the reports of clogged freeways and fender-benders, phrases like "school surrounded," "assault rifles," "high school shooting," and "fatalities" penetrated my consciousness. What? Where?

Collectively, we in Canada can be a little smug when events like this occur (and the smuggest of all are transplanted "Yanks" turned maple-leaf-waving nationalists like myself) -- after all, firearms are much more strictly controlled here, and both accidental and intentional deaths from gunshots are a fraction of their incidence in the U.S., even when the difference in population is factored in. Most bank robberies are committed with toy guns! I hope, though, that we take a good, long look at the deeper factors involved here -- not just the issue of gun control, or indeed of weapons generally, but of the marginalizing of individuals (and groups) in our schools.

How can teachers intervene in this negative spiral before a lonely, angry child becomes a socially isolated, hostile teenager who becomes an armed and dangerous individual with "payback" plans on his mind? Were there ways those Colorado students could have been helped, earlier in life?

I guess we will never really know. If it is any consolation, the experts on criminal psychopathy are also unsure: they do seem to agree that a violent offender is made, not born. Predisposing factors may increase risk, but there is still individual choice, responsibility -- and that means there is an opportunity for schools to make a difference. Maybe we should do more listening to our STUDENTS. They may know, better than we do, who is in trouble.

Earlier this year, several of my boys came to me on the sly, as it were, to express concerns about one of their friends, "Mike." Three of his regular buddies confessed they were pretty worried about him. Mike gets into his share of trouble in school -- mostly of the telling-the-teacher-to-F-off category -- but one of the positive things about him is the fact that he DOES have friends who obviously like him, so he is not 'marginalized" -- not yet, anyway. There are plenty of home problems, and the boy has lots to be angry about, but so far at school we have tried to make sure he was set up to succeed, provided with time-out/cooling off space when he needed it, and we have tried to avoid escalating confrontations with him.

Mike's friends' concerns, though, were extremely disturbing. The boys had been talking together about disasters, Y2K and what they would do if the world were going to end (or if they thought it was going to). Most said they would get a car or go to Disney World... then Mike silenced them all by vowing, "I would rape as many women as I possibly can and then I would start shooting people." At first they thought he was joking. When they realized he was NOT, they got scared. Mike's deep anger is so intense that, yes, he IS fantasizing about gang rape and mass murder -- he has just turned twelve years old. What can we do?

I didn't have to think about it for long. Only a day or two later, Mike's homeroom teacher mentioned that we were going to be having a case conference, looking at support services and so on for Mike -- did I have anything to add? I briefly summarized what I had learned, and asked if they needed me to write this up. The color had drained from my colleague's face. "I think you had better be there," he said.

I had feared that others involved with Mike might brush off these concerns -- and similar things he has said, to me and others, and his extreme daredevil behavior (lying on train tracks until the train is coming, then jumping up and running away). They did not. Without over-reacting, all were as concerned about the long-term problems this boy faces as I am. We discussed several community-based support agencies that might be able to help, and also a spectrum of mental health and educational interventions that Mike might be eligible for. Family counseling is needed -- it might be rejected. An outdoor program for the summer (Mike loves animals and nature) if we can get Mike into it. Will we make a difference? We can't know. We HAVE to try.

Sometimes, though, I know we do succeed. I think back on a student I had, years ago now, with extreme acting-out behaviour, always in trouble (vandalism, fighting, theft). I managed to get him into a program for adolescents with poor social skills and somehow, he turned a corner -- he came back from the summer away with a whole new set of skills and self-confidence, immediately got involved as a volunteer at a local Boys and Girls Club, helping with sports teams, and one thing led to another -- before long he won awards for leadership and community service! Sometimes, a seemingly small thing can set a whole chain of positive consequences in place.

I hope this is what we make happen for Mike. We're having another meeting about him this week. For the kids of Columbine High School, it is too late. For the rest of us, we can redouble our efforts to LISTEN to our students, CARE about their concerns and perceptions, and ACT to get them the help they need -- academic or otherwise. We can work to prevent ANY kid from being marginalized and outcast, whether by his peers OR by society.

There's an engrossing book, "Mindhunter," by John Douglas, the retired FBI agent who developed the science of criminal profiling. In his conclusion, which was a powerful and moving statement, he reiterated that the horrific crimes he investigated were perpetrated by people who were someone's sons, brothers, fathers. They BECAME "monsters;" they weren't born that way. In Douglas' view, it was something quite simple that made all the difference: Love. These killers had never been valued for who they were, helped to find their strengths and special talents, or had caring adults demand from them their best efforts. We cannot be the parent figures some students need, but every day we have the opportunity to be that one caring, demanding adult who empowers the young person to value himself. The one who nudges him (or her) in the right direction.

For our middle-school kids, it is NOT too late. *We* can make the difference.


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