BLITZ KRIEG PUBLISHING
Columbine Anniversary: What Have We Learned?
By Donna Gundle-Krieg April 19, 2009 Note: to comment on this story or other stories about education in America, please go to Examiner.com
The school shootings ten years ago at Columbine High School on April 20th shocked the nation.
However, "much of what the public has been told about the Columbine shootings is wrong," according to Greg Toppo of USA Today.
For example, the teenage killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were not goths or loners.
"They saved money from after-school jobs, took Advanced Placement classes, assembled a small arsenal and fooled everyone — friends, parents, teachers, psychologists, cops and judges," said Toppo.
The record even shows that the boys hadn't been bullied — in fact, they had bragged in diaries about picking on others.
After this massacre, schools everywhere clamped down on safety and instituted anti-bullying and anti-violence programs.
Have these measures worked?
It doesn't seem so, as every day, eight children in America are killed by guns, according to The Million Mom March.
Those in the suburbs or the country are not immune to this gun violence.
For example, if you were a student at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, MI on Good Friday this month, you would have received this email from the college:
"Armed police officers are on campus near the Fine Arts building. If you are on campus, lock down your classrooms and offices immediately. Do not leave until cleared to do so."
It turned out that Anthony Powell shot and killed Asia McGowan, a fellow student, and then turned the gun on himself.
"Nothing like this has ever occurred on campus,” said Marjorie Swan, vice president/controller at the school. See Police search for motive in Henry Ford Community College murder-suicide.
America is not the only country that has these issues.
Just last month, Tim Kretschmer, age 17, went on a shooting spree in Germany and killed 16 people, including three teachers and ten students at his former school. See Teen Gunman in German Kills 16 Including Teachers and Students.
There is a large group of mothers that was inspired by the school shootings in the 1990's, and has worked to change this gun violence.
The Million Mom March is a group of 75 local chapters whose members believe that “all children have the right to grow up in environments free from the threat of gun violence."
For more information, see:
Stories by Donna Gundle-Krieg:
Education in the United States
Books With Stories by Donna Gundle-Krieg
Blitzkriegpublishing home page
Michigan Death Notices home page
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