September 20, 2022
Mark Twain suggested that \”of all the animals — man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it.\”
So, violence seems to be inherent in our genes. And because we are a very violent species — and because schools mirror the larger society — violence occurring in our schools should come as a surprise to no one: I mean, how are schools supposed to sort out problems that the larger community and State can\’t?
To be honest, one of the main reasons I elected to retire at this juncture of my education career was because now all-of-us — students and educators — have the fear of a shooting (in-the-back of-our-minds) when we are in a classroom. This unconscious fear is certainly not conducive to teaching and definitely not conducive to learning.
Naturally I reached out to Friend Clive (as I have many times in the past) for his opinion on the matter. (I usually agree with his insightful opinions and tend to respect them.) Clive believes that school shooters have a history of being bullied (cyber and/or physical and/or both).
While I don\’t disagree with his proposition — I think that more of the variance is explained by my contention that school shooters come from dysfunctional families that have little or no guidance or supervision of their member children.
Our two \”educated\” opinions often tend to be intertwined with divorce — which seems to play a critical role in many of the school shootings over the years and begs the question: Where were the parents?
Divorce seems to be a key variable in the families that spawn a shooter…
The community of psycho-therapeutic practitioners generally agree that raising a child requires the input of two, responsible adults. (This doesn\’t mean that a single parent would be unable to raise healthy, motivated and productive children.) \”We\” simply suggest that it\’s a real bitch for a single, working parent to raise children.
But even two parents in the home can give rise to a shooter — and as famed Gestalt therapist Fritz Perls said: Behind every fucked up child are two fucked up parents.
I\’ll never forget one of my incarcerated female students suggesting I was wrong on this count — because she never knew her imprisoned father. I didn\’t attempt to explain to her that she had proved my (and Perls\’) point.
Dr. Conrad Hilberry — poet and English professor — once did a study on murderers trying to get a handle on what the key variable for taking the life of another might be. I don\’t know if we can replicate this type of study with school shooters (because many of them take their own lives) but if there\’s an inquiring psychologist or sociologist out there — I recommend interviewing shooters who don\’t suicide (generally disaffected, young, White males) to see if you can find that determining factor that has unleashed so much pain and sorrow in our schools and the accompanying community. Studies of the family configuration of school shooters who do survive might also shed some light on this unique American Disorder…