General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why we keep having school shootings [View all]loyalsister
(13,390 posts)otherwise known as workplace violence is something many adults can relate to. Say a person who has kids to buy xmas gifts for gets fired the day after Thanksgiving after having had their car repossessed.... How many adults would be willing to try to understand what drove that if that person if they tried to kill their boss?
Most of us whose school experiences reach back a few years haven't a clue what kids' everyday school experience is like today. When In 1983 a kid in my class shot himself. We were as mystified by his access to a gun as we were shocked by the suicide itself.
Simplistic demonizing the angry, troubled kids who react to their environment with violence is lazy. These are kids who hate themselves for reasons unknown to us. They know their lives are ruined by their actions.
Having gone to school once ourselves does not translate to the experiences of young people in a world of gun and crime glorification, expanded technology, and greater social\financial disparity.