They Might Have Been Carefully Taught
Sam Aurelius Milam III
The
recent killings in Littleton, Colorado caused the usual perplexity about
why such things happen. In this case, the event seems to have been
rooted at least partly in the intolerance that members of one student faction
— the "jocks" — directed at the members of another student faction — the
Trench Coat Mafia. Again, perplexity. Why would they be intolerant
of one another? Don't they learn anything about history, current
events, or the consequences of intolerance?
Maybe
it isn't the students who are at fault. When the Columbine students
went back to classes, the school administration suggested that the remaining
members of the Trench Coat Mafia should obtain private tutoring at home.
I thought the "precaution" was at least peculiar. I hadn't noticed
among those students that I saw interviewed any inclination toward violent
revenge. If there were students with such an inclination then they,
and not the members of the Trench Coat Mafia, were the appropriate candidates
for exclusion. No amount of rhetoric about "their own good" will
change the fact that the members of the Trench Coat Mafia were excluded
from school not because of anything they had done, but because of what
they are — members of the Trench Coat Mafia. Furthermore, the exclusion
wasn't instigated by vengeful "jocks", but by supposedly mature members
of the high school administration, who should have known better.
In my opinion, the decision was a bad one, with sinister implications.
A group of students was ostracized by the adults for reasons that are ultimately
traceable to nothing more significant than the students' appearance.
The decision is ominously reminiscent of the student intolerance that originally
sparked the violence. It might provide a glimpse into the attitudes
of the adults in charge and a clue as to why some students behaved with
such intolerance. They might have been carefully taught.
| You've got to be taught to hate and fear.
You've got to be taught from year to year. It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear. You've got to be carefully taught. You've got to be taught to be afraid
You've got to be taught before it's too late!
— From South Pacific
by Rodgers & Hammerstein |
Sad But True
from actual news reports, provided by Jeffrey Trunzer
Principle
Scott Skidmore, of the James Brooks Middle School, Midland, Texas, ordered
12-year-old Stanley Diaz Jr. to shave his face or be indefinitely suspended.
Stanley is being carefully taught.
Teach Them Responsibility
Sam Aurelius Milam III
When
I was young, our parents didn't lock their guns away from us. They
taught us how to handle them. I owned my first rifle by the time
I was a high school freshman. I still own it.
In
my article Teach The Children Well (see page 2) I suggested arming
the students. That seems extreme by the standards of today's authoritarian
propaganda. However, any government powerful enough to keep guns
out of the hands of children is a lot more dangerous than guns in the hands
of children. Therefore, ponder
this alternative. Marksmanship could be an elective in every school.
Any student could take it. When a student became competent in handling
a weapon, he could carry it anywhere.1
Some
of the best times that I spent with my father were the times that we spent
shooting. There's no reason to hide guns from children, or teach
them that guns are evil. Instead, supervise them and teach them responsibility.
|
|
Adults, of course, should be presumed competent. |
| Frontiersman@ida.net | Frontiersman,
479 E. 700 N., Firth, Idaho 83236
Also see The Pharos Connection at http://www.ida.net/users/pharos/ |
June 1999
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