What is with AMERICAN schools and gun-wielding kids?

Question

There have been recent repots that another insane pupil is carrying a gun. This is after the colorado school seige and a headteacher was shot by one of his pupils a few days afterwards

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/5400392.stm

Answer 1

Without the gun, there would be no america, my point is that its their way of life, its embedded in their souls.

Answer 2

Unfortunately the anti- American terrorist group known as the NRA wields an obscene amount of political power in this country ..and it will be quite a while before intelligent Americans make this anti-American terrorist organization obsolete The unofficial motto of the NRA is "That by allowing everybody and their mothers to have guns , we need to have guns to protect ourselves from everybody and their mothers that we allowed to have guns in the first place " Meanwhile on the real streets of real America , the daily gun carnage continues unabated , the bodies pile up and the American taxpayer spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually treating the uninsured victims of gun shot violence, and all the gun crazies over at the NRA have to offer for a solution is the same tired trite platitudes that they try to pass off as Truth. Recently our president caved into pressure from the anti-American terrorist group known as the NRA and signed legislation that allows guns in our once safe National Parks.... To describe such an idiot action as sheer madness on the Presidents part would be an understatement.

Answer 3

It's all about the P.E. system, that Physical (mis) Education.

Simply put, the whole competitive "team sports" oriented business behind it is creating not just more and more jocks, but a whole new *level* of sociopathic Bully that hasn't been seen in public schools before. We are seeing what happens when teachers and principals aren't *allowed* by dysfunctional, messed-up, borderline neglectful and abusive parents, to rein in and discipline the Jocks and Bullies, and to keep them from inflicting atrocities upon their fellow students. We are seeing what happens when Biff the Roided Out Basketball Psycho gets to do whatever, whenever, to whoever....

And the sad part is, there is a solution to the problem, that would also *actually physically educate* more kids, get more students in shape, and generally end both the Bullying problem *and* the childhood obesity problem.

But doing that would implicitly *require* that Public Schools, yes ALL of them, even the ones in poor neighborhoods that your CEO Class Snots don't like, that ALL of them get FULL funding. If not more....

The answer is tracking.

You create a Jock track, in P.E. classes, for the 20-25% of the kids who are going to be "good enough" to make the current team-sports-oriented version of P.E. (a.k.a. P.E. v.1) work for them.....keep them separate and doing their thing so that "football schools" and the like can still make their money.

Then for the *rest* of the students, you create P.E. v.2. You base it on the principle of remedial education....focus first on getting the Non-Jock Majority in shape, by having them do easy, simple cardio (teaching them to skip rope, or if need be, having a low-impact option with recumbent bikes), and focusing on core (abs & lower back) training and bodyweight plus isometric strength training. Keep it simple and dirt cheap, but make sure kids are at least getting some cardio and some very basic strength training five days a week.

Then. For kids in P.E. v.2, do what Japan has done since the 1950s: teach martial arts. Teach them for both self defense against the Jocks and Bullies, and teach them as *stress relief* so that they *don't* by and large get tempted to *get the gun* in the first place. Japan has taught Judo and Kendo as part of the public school curriculum for decades now, and you don't see school shootings in Tokyo, now do you? Nor even any mass stabbings (from the gun being illegal)?

Of course not, because the school culture is not as *about* catering to the Bully the way it is here. :)

But yeah, while teaching something with *chokeholds* like Judo might be asking for a lawsuit, still, there are alternatives, like Aikido, or Russian Sambo (a Judo-like art that emphasizes leg locks and wrestling more than chokes), that would give kids some skills, not just for dealing with punks at school, but for standing up for themselves in all sorts of real-life situations.

Still, you see the point though. We *could* kill two big honking birds with one stone (the obesity/fitness thing, and the bullying thing) just by having P.E. tracked into v.1 for the Jocks and Bullies, and into v.2 for the Non-Jock Majority. And then *allowing* both teachers and students alike the *freedom* to use the skills they have to keep the Jocks and Bullies in check.

Just give the kids a non-gun equalizer, and allow them a fair chance to defend themselves and protect themselves, and watch the extreme stuff, the shootings, go away as the problems *never build up* to that point. :)

Hope this helps! (no really, I hope someone is listening and that schools get full funding *across the board, not just in the rich neighborhoods*, and that we can fix this problem instead of what the CEO Rightwads want to do, which is to basically abandon public shools and the poorer 80% of the nation and let them ROT in their ignorance and desperation)

Answer 4

Kids today allmost have to raise themselves vidios are to common and easy way of baby sitting no moral conduct in games and they confuse reallity with the crazy games they play remember pong marbles boredom now if they are not constantlly entertained they do not know what to do guess being in America it is easy to get caught up and side tracked by so many things that are not good for peoples.

Answer 5

At the time of the writing of the constitution America was a very young country with few people. At that time people needed guns to hunt for food and protect their property and communities. Today there is no need for them to have weapons to do these things. Consequently the constitution will eventually have to be ammended. I will take America quite a while to realise this unfortunately

Answer 6

I much preferred the days of old when you had prayer in school and kids didn't get shot on a regular basis.

Did taking prayer out of schools cause more problems than it solved? I think so.

Answer 7

Nobody is paying attention to what is going on with these kids anymore. However that is no excuse, I was the kid who got picked on and I got through it with humor or occasionally I kicked someones *** on the playground. We did not shoot each other. You think more people would be asking this question.

Answer 8

There are a lot of factors involved and most certainly teen violence is not limited to the United States. However, access to handguns and firearms being so easy here in the US most certainly is a major influence. Limiting access would deter a lot of the school violence but not necessarily eliminate it.

Answer 9

Well, the answer is simple.

'The shooting to death of others protects you way of life.'

It really isn't possible to discuss or talk through problems or issues with a neighbour without it turning 'abusive,' 'aggressive' 'violent' or 'litigious expensive.' So shoot the beggar is a shortcut version of 'dealing with it all.'

Sash.

Answer 10

it is the access to the guns for joe public that is the problem. the same kids with knives would be a threat to one or two victims but would stand very little chance of appearing to have the power to keep hostages.