The profile of the gun-toting student in a trench coat is just one of the myths about the rare but murderous attacks in the nation’s schools.
Here are 10 myths about school shootings, compiled by MSNBC.com from a 2002 study by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education. The researchers studied case files and other primary sources for 37 attacks by current or former students, and also interviewed 10 of the perpetrators.
Myth No. 1. “He didn’t fit the profile.”
In fact, there is no profile. “There is no accurate or useful ‘profile’ of students who engaged in targeted school violence,” the researchers found.
The stereotypes of teens in Goth makeup or other types of dress are not useful in preventing attacks. Just as in other areas of security -- workplace violence, airplane hijacking, even presidential assassination -- too many innocent students will fit any profile you can come up with, and too many attackers will not.
“The demographic, personality, school history, and social characteristics of the attackers varied substantially,” the report said. Attackers were of all races and family situations, with academic achievement ranging from failing to excellent.
Most, but not all, have been male, though that fact alone doesn't help an adult rule in or out someone as dangerous.
Myth No. 2. “He just snapped.”
Rarely were incidents of school violence sudden, impulsive acts. Attackers do not “just snap,” but progress from forming an idea, to planning an attack, to gathering weapons. This process can happen quickly, but sometimes the planning or gathering weapons are discoverable.
Although the researchers point out that there is no "type of student" who is likely to commit such violence, there are "types of behaviors" that are common to planning or carrying out the attacks. This pattern, they say, gives some hope of intervening before an attack.
Myth No. 3. “No one knew.”
There really is NOT a good profile to help us get a handle on this problem. For some, including our president, the reflex is to ban more guns. For others, it makes more rational since to arm more teachers. I wish there were simple solutions, but it seems that the problem lies more in the gradual, though accelerating decline in the solid moral values that have evolved over centuries that held civilized peoples in check for the greater good.
A friend of mine suggested that it is the wide availability of guns in America. He further expressed his feelings that guns don't create violence, rather, violence explains guns. Although I do think this is an interesting juxtaposition--it is again an over-simplification of a complex problem. If his supposition was true, it would mean that Americans, having the most free access to guns of any nation, would be the most violent. But we are not. Not by a long-shot.
But here are a few thoughts that i have contemplated as being root causes (you may note that many appear related:
1) A general abandonment of strict social moors.
2) An abandonment of the historical and traditional model of the family--which leads to less emotional stability among children who become adults.
3) An abandonment of organized religions that teaches against such acts of violence.
4) More parents working longer hours, as opposed to spending time at home with children.
5) Increased, non-structured idle-time for children--and adults.
6) More passive use of time engaged in affective brainwashing of children and adults via music, television, video games.
7) More violence reported, sensationalized, and depicted in the media.
8) Less reading.
9) Less societal accountability.
10) Rise of pornography.
11) Increased life stress.
12) Fewer tools and models for coping with life stress.
13) Glorification of cultural violence.