What are our chidren doing!!!!

[Julie]

Another high school shooting, this one in Ohio. One dead and 4 injured. This is such a sad day.

What a world we live in when schools have to have frequent shooting drilils along with fire drills.

http://www.wtae.com/news/30549345/detail.html

 

[JohnT]

Yes it is sad.

In looking at all of these cases, I have read that all of these shooters have one thing in common. They were all bullied.

Bullying turns people into outcasts that live in their own world, feel contantly threatened, and also feel that they have no place to turn.

The answer is in the reduction and intervention of bullys. Today, many schools have adopted a "zero tollerance" policy toward bullys. I wonder if this has helped.

johnT.

 

[JohnT]

Yup,

Just read the article,

The shooter was believed to be an outcast and bullied.

 

[Deezil]

Unfortunately zero tolerance doesnt keep bullying from happening. Living in one of the best school districts in WA state, we had monthly bomb threat drills, along with various lock down drills & the regular fire drills. Also had 2 real-deal cops on every campus in the city, anytime there was a school function.

The year after i left high school, the police infiltrated the student body at the school i was attending & ended up busting a firearms/drug ring of younger kids - these officers blended in with the student body, did homework; not even the teachers knew who they were. They arrested 9 people in relation to that sting, 5 or 6 of which were in school, the rest were older. We also had a few real bomb threats, stabbings in the hallways.. Hell there was even a "war" going on at one point..

This newest incident today, is sad, as were all the rest. Very unfortunate. Even more unfortunate, is the complexity of the fixes needed for the situation society is faced with.

 

[Runningwolf]

Very sad. I have been listening to it all day blow by blow I listen to the local radio station from that area.

 

[winemaker_3352]

What a tragedy!!!

 

[Julie]

I once made the comment that working in a school district is almost like working on the frontlines of a war. I'm sorry I ever said that because it is getting very scary.

While we have never had anyone walk in with a firearm, we have had some scary situations. The worst was 6 months ago, a parent came to the school board meeting and got very upset, we now have security at our meetings.

Bullying is a big part of it but not all. We have students who are not bullied but are very unsocialable. And then there are the little ones, kindergarten thru 3rd grade when they don't get their way, they start beating on their teacher and the foul language would totally shock you.

 

[ffemt128]

It was a tragic day for that Ohio school district and my prayers go out to the families involved. That being said......

I'm sad to say IMHO it's all a result of today's society. We have households were both parents are required to work leaving less time for children. Then there are the bazillion activities that children feel they must participate in to fit in. All these things result in less real family time. Bullying is nothing new to todays society. It has been around forever. We had bullies, however, it was a different time. Parents didnt have to fear punishing their children as they do now. We didn't have time out, if we got out of line we knew we would be punished therefore we didn't. SOciety today has raised a bunch of children that feel they are "entitled" and that they have "rights". IMHO when you turn 18 you have rights, until then you follow the parent's rules as they are set down. I raised 3 children, much along the lines as I was raised. They all turned out fine and I'm raising a 4th now, she will turn out fine as well. They all wanter for nothing, but they also knew nothing would just be handed over to them. Children today for the most part want/expect instant gratification. They would rather sit around and watch tv and play PS2/3, XBOX etc than go out and play. They don't have the personal interaction skills that we were once taught dur to social media. They would rather text someone than pick up the phone and call. Technology is a wonderful thing, but what has it created in society/what has it taken away.

FLAME SUIT ON......Above is just my opinion for what it's worth. If you don't have $.02, I'm sure there's a government program for that. They thing they can raise children better then parents can. It doesn't take a vilage to rais a child, it takes a family and friends to support the family when needed.

 

[Deezil]

Ffemt, as a young man i've always felt that i'm a part of the small age-group fortunate or unlucky enough (depends on how you look at it) to have experienced growing up in both of the two aspects of society you described.

As a young child, i remember seeing other children getting beat in the grocery store - early 1990's, at this time - and if anyone had anything to say about it, it was usually along the lines of "listen to your parents", and not the "im turning you into social services" that you'll hear today.

Yet somewhere between me turning 10 and 15 - between '97 & '02, give or take - things changed. And i cant say i agree with the changes. People forgot how to parent, are to scared to be parents (social services, etc), or didnt care enough to be parents.

It makes me sick, honestly.

Then things like today happen, and people wonder why..

Le sigh.

 

[Rocky]

I am with you Doug. I grew up in Forst Hills and we used to play baseball with bats that had so many screws and tape on them you could barely lift them and baseball with so much electrician's tape on them they broke your hand when you caught one. Still, we played baseball in the summer without any adults around from morning until you could not see the ball. When I played Little League, our "uniform" was a cap and a tee shirt and again, few if any, parents came to the games. And we would walk about 2 miles to the field to play.

There is an assault on the American way of life that has been going on since the 1950's and if you don't believe this, read The Naked Communist by W. Cleon Skousen and it will change your mind.

 

[Wade E]

Its all this Twitter and Facebook and texting IMO! I do also agree that its the way we livce now. Everything so scurried and way motre stressed out not to even mention the economy and thgings that Mom and Dad cant afford like Aeropostale clothes and Hollister Jeans and the such.

 

[Julie]

yup, I agree.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Doug almost took the words out of my mouth. We've always had bullies; even Little House On the Prairie had Nell. I think one of the things that is different is that in the past, bullied kids had somewhere else to turn. Maybe it was because there were big families and you had a brother or sister for support, or your parents were there to help. Or like me, my grandparents lived next door, so I always had "someone" as a child. Even when I was really mad at my own mom, I could go talk to grandma or grandpa and they would tell me some of the things she did as a child and it made me feel better to know that life was a big circle of life and learning. Now families and extended families are so disconnected. Humans have always be social beings, and Twitter is a poor substitute for a smile and a hug.

 

[ffemt128]

Deezil, based on your post you would be around the age of my youngest son. My oldest graduated Highschool in 2004 and my youngest in 2007 and my daughter in 2010. You have to wonder where society went wrong. When I was in high school, I use to take my shot gun on the rack of the truck so that we could go out hunting after school. I wasn't in a rural area and my children all graduated the same school I did. But that is what we did. If we got into a fight at school it was handled with fists and wits, not knives and guns. I grew up with a great respect for firearms. I instilled that in all my children. I'm proud to say that I have 2 son's who enlisted and served in the military, one did a tour in Iraq and a tour in Afghanistan, the other recently re-enlisted inthe National Guard. Both made this choice during a time of world turmoil. I believe that is because of how they were raised. I don't want to hear, it's broken families that cause the problems. I was raised in a single parent household with my 2 sisters and my Children's mother passed away in 1993. We all turned out fine because of the values that were instilled in us growing up.

The world is a screwed up place today. We as responsible adults have to do what we can to ensure that our children are raised properly and be there for our friends and family when needed. Society will not raise a child the way a family can. If you leave this responsibility up to government and society, god knows what the ultimate outcome will be.

 

[roblloyd]

You are all right on. My wife and I tend to watch over our kids and not let them run the house. One of our friends lets their kids to whatever they want - snack anytime, tv, ipods, whatever. I think their kids are more destructive and less caring. Plus they have money so there is no need to respect items - breaks get a new one, oh it's tuesday here have a new expensive toy if you leave me alone.
I think another reason is lack of discipline at home. The "time out" thing doesn't work unless they just need a break from what's going on around them. It does not do anything for discipline. Why would it with kids having ipods, TV, etc in their room? Being locked in their room is actually better than having to do chores.

 

[Julie]

Being locked in their rooms is a child's preference anymore. Because of all the technology, today's child is socially immature. Add bullying to that and you get a child who wants to kill. Like everyone has said it is not bullying by itself. Not all parents are like this but there is way too many who will not take responsibilty of raising their child. Just give them toys so they leave the parents alone.

 

[Wade E]

Same thing here Rob. Almost everything they have (laptops, ipod, and Wii) was all paid for by them working around the house to earn money so that they value the meaning of a dollar and know what it is to have to save up and take care of something. My son is 8 years old and owns his WII and Laptop outright. I dont think there are many children twice his age that can say that. It sure helps us a;so as I have a bad back and wife is a real mess with 2 knee surgeries, 1 neck surgery and her back is almost as bad as mine!

 

[Julie]

A second child has died from the shooting. My heart goes out to these families.

 

[LanMan]

Too much technology? No problem. Ground your kids from ELECTRICITY. Anything that runs on batteries or gets pluged in.

You guys are right. Things changend in the 90s. Hell when I was a freshman I can remember the kids old enough to drive had gunracks complete with guns in the parkinglot all the time, and it wasn't a problem. No one got shot, they were just going hunting after work.

Plus Being from a small redneck town I because of my darker skin(Mom is from Hawaii) I gat bullied and turned out fine. Kids have very thin skin these days.

 

[Rocky]

A second child has died from the shooting. My heart goes out to these families.

I had not heard that, Julie. Horrible! I cannot imagine anything worse than losing a child that way. My Grandchildren go off to school each day and this is what can happen.