A lot of speculation has been put forward about the rash of tragedies lately in which kids take guns to school and start blowing people away. I've read many ideas on what the problem behind these tragedies might be. Some are predictable, like violence on TV, lack of God in the child's life, guns, and so on. Some are a little more thought-provoking, like anger at the school system.
Personally, I don't think it's easy to sum up. There isn't just one factor involved, but many. And of course, different factors will weigh with varying intensity from child to child. Here are my thoughts on what the major ones are, and aren't.
Let's dispense with the "godless" hypothesis right off the bat. History has shown that, if anything, religion has a tendency to incite violence, not prevent it. People kill "in the name of God" every single day. Anyone who believes that lack of religion or faith in a kid's life will make him more likely to pull the trigger on his classmates is truly living in a fantasy world.
Violence on TV and in the movies... I concede these are likely candidates. And then there's video games, which are so much more violent today than when I was a teenager. And it seems that games featuring mass bloodshed are the most popular ones in the arcades these days. But while these things may be factors, I don't think they're deserving of as much of the blame as they're getting.
Guns don't kill people... but they make it real easy. I'll save my views on guns, gun control, and the second amendment for another time. But it's highly unlikely that these killings would take place if the kids had to use knives instead. The argument is often put forward that a criminal will get a gun if he wants one, whether or not there's gun control. The same can be said of some resourceful children. But it's also a given that crimes of passion would not happen as frequently if guns were not readily available. The parents who keep guns easily accessible in the home should bloody well know better.
Anger at the school system is a rather sweeping statement, but there is some merit to it. The way our schools are run, kids become very frustrated. They feel trapped in an unnatural environment where competition and peer pressure run rampant. (See Cardigan on Education for more on this subject.) The comic strip Calvin and Hobbes addressed this on many occasions, where the perpetually six-year old Calvin would daydream about blowing up his school. Heck, I used to daydream about blowing up my school, too. This, of course, was in the hopes that, if there were no building, there'd be no classes. But today's kids are, in some cases, transferring their feelings from the institution itself to those within the institution: their classmates and teachers. In other cases, they are in fact lashing out at the specific people themselves, most likely due to the above-mentioned competitiveness and peer pressure. Either way, these kids are letting off a tremendous amount of steam. Obviously, they need to, but the method leaves a lot to be desired.
In light of the recent shootings in Littleton, Colorado, I feel the need to add this segment on school cliques. Most people seem to be under the impression that groups like the Trenchcoat Mafia are formed out of a desire to be with like-minded people. But that's only half the reason. School cliques are also formed as a measure of protection. Think of it... Kids are generally pretty insecure, and here we've forced them into an unnatural, rigidly-controlled environment where they have to deal with a lot of people they don't even know. Depending on the size of the school, we could be talking about several hundred strangers our children are surrounded by. Who can blame them for feeling overwhelmed? So they form cliques. Partially because of the joy of knowing others with similar attitudes, beliefs, or interests... but also because there is safety in numbers. Having a peer group just might protect you from individual harassment. This is a very real fear for many kids, especially those who feel "different" in any of a hundred different ways. Once we're out of the horrid atmosphere that is our school system, we still join groups, but it is seldom out of fear and desperation, as it is with school cliques. (For an excellent article about the kind of crap that millions of kids have to tolerate every day, go here.)
When you get right down to it, none of these factors is the big one, at least to my way of thinking. The root of the problem is the way we raise our kids. Television programming itself isn't to blame, but allowing the TV to be the baby-sitter is. Video games are not the problem, but letting children think that violence is a solution to a problem (a way to win the game) is not good. Guns are not the problem, but allowing kids easy access to them, not teaching them about the weapons, and of course, glorifying them... these are problems. The school system... Well, yeah. It's a problem. Once again, that's a discourse for another time, but the fact remains that our educational system goes against all kinds of natural ways of being. The pressures of school are many, and too heavy for some kids.
With the exception of revamping our school systems, all the above issues are easily dealt with. We, as humans, need to pay more attention to what effects our culture is having upon us, especially our children. It's a sad fact that most parents don't seem to find time for their kids, at least, not the kind of time the kids deserve. We busy them with after-school sports and other activities, and while kids probably get something out of these things, they should not be used as a substitution for the quality time we should be spending with them, face-to-face.
So many children are not really shown examples of positive virtues in their daily lives. In and of itself, this is unfortunate, but not terrible, since I feel that children usually develop these on their own. However, our society is chock full of examples of the contrary. The video games, television, and other things, when left alone in their influences, all combine to say to our kids that it's okay to hurt other people, it's okay to be violent, it's okay to not take others into account. Children will form their morality by looking at the examples around them. And if the negative influences aren't balanced by positive influences, then what should we expect?
If we want school shootings to stop, we need to start by re-assessing our lives, especially our lives in relation to our children. We need to take an honest look at what information is going into them, from all sources, and if we find that the information has room for improvement, then we have to do the improving. We have to show them... not tell them... that violence is not the way to get what you want. They need to realize that guns are not for use on people. We have to make sure they understand what killing is, that it's forever. Most importantly, we need to show them to have compassion for others. They need to understand that every other person they meet has a life just as complex and precious as their own. Not an easy concept for kids (or many adults) to truly fathom. It's so easy to think of yourself as the center of the universe. Realizing that you're not is the first step to gaining this compassion.
And without compassion, what are we, really?