School Violence

This article by John Whitehead surprised me. There was a lot of information that was shocking. For example, in the year 2000 25% of teens were involved with weapons, 70% admitted cheating on a test and 15% said they showed up for class drunk. This makes me think about South Portland High School and what might be going on that we can't see. In every school there are kids that do drugs and make bad decisions. But all of the kids in these shootings were described as white males who were bullied and might have used drugs. When i look around the school everyday i see many kids like that and it's horrifying to think one day they might come to school and pull out a gun. I think that adults and kids can both help kids who are bullied by just being more aware of what is going on around them. If an adult or kid sees someone being bullied then they should do something about it. Letting someone be harassed and hurt in school, which is supposedly a safe environment, is not acceptable. I know that it takes a lot of courage to stand up for someone, especially when you're a kid. All kids think about these days is how they can fit in with the crowd, how they can be popular or even just "normal". Standing up for someone would definitely be put on the "uncool" list and therefor diminish all the work you had done to get yourself accepted. That's why i feel many kids decide not to stand up for people even when they know it's the right thing to do. I don't completely understand why adults who see bullying don't stop it. It seems like there is always a "no bullying" campaign, and it doesn't make sense that the adults would be trying to better the school and then not do anything about the bullying that they are trying to prevent.

I think that the suspect should definitely be tried as an adult. This was a horrible crime he committed and it shouldn't be taken lightly. I think that if he isn' tried as an adult and isn't punished too harshly then that makes other kids that might be planning a school shooting think that it's ok and that it's not a big deal. He killed three people and injured two others, that is something that will never be forgotten or forgiven. He didn't even pick out the victims, he shot randomly. That shows that he shot innocent kids and that should be something he is severely punished for.

I think that the suspects home life or school life does not influence the situation or my opinion at all. He still shot innocent people. If he had a bad home life or was bullied then that's too bad. I don't think it was right he had a bad home life or was bullied but he still had no right or reason, in a sane persons mind, to shoot innocent kids. He obviously felt there was no other choice but that doesn't make it ok. Killing other people is not the way out of your personal problems.