Spinoff to high school

Time for a little controversy -- hopefully, we can respect each other

Julz's poll got me thinking back to the Columbine incident. The kids that killed a whole bunch of students were picked on alot by the in crowd, and the victims were jocks, cheerleaders, etc.

My feeling was and is that while I felt sorry for the kids that died and their families, I felt more sorry for the kids that committed the killings and that they got pushed to that limit and that no one saw it coming.

Like I said, I was tortured in school growing up, don't know why, never will. As a 'kid' many's the time, I thought about 'killing' some of my classmates. I'd never actually do it because no one deserves that. But, I know that if I didn't have such a great family and home life, I could have had some severe psychological damage. I mean, to this day, my self esteem isn't at 100%, but it could have been much much worse.

What do you all think

Re: Spinoff to high school

You couldn't pay me money to go back to high school.

Re: Spinoff to high school

While I was never picked on as a kid - except of course from my older brother, I can't really say how I would feel. But the bottom line is right from wrong - You may have 'thought' about killing these mean people - but - somehow - you did know it was wrong.
There was something psychologically wrong with those kids - to drive them to that point. But I feel bad for the innocent victims - they don't deserve to be killed just because they are bullies.
Like you said - obviously something was missing in there home life - but does that make them not responsible for there actions?

Re: Spinoff to high school

I think Chris Rock said it best, what do they mean they had no friends, they were a mafia. I hate the fact that kids are forced to go somewhere everyday for 4 years no matter what. I also feel that if you are 'in' in high school, and that is the best time of your life, isn't that kind of sad? Kids that hated high school, have the world ahead of them.

Re: Spinoff to high school

It's sad to say that it's a totally different world these days. One where schools install metal detectors to make sure that knives and guns don't get past the doors, one where 16 year old kids are either on prozac or ryddalin, one where the focus is so much less on learning than on being popular or feared or whatever your agenda. But, I don't think that under any circumstances is it alright to kill another human being. These kids had problems that should have been addressed by their parents, teachers and counselors, not with guns. It should have never gotten to the point it did, I agree, but to blame it on video games is just ignoring the root of the problem.

I'd be interested to see what the teachers think about all of this.

Re: Spinoff to high school

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Posted by don424

Time for a little controversy -- hopefully, we can respect each other

Julz's poll got me thinking back to the Columbine incident. The kids that killed a whole bunch of students were picked on alot by the in crowd, and the victims were jocks, cheerleaders, etc.

My feeling was and is that while I felt sorry for the kids that died and their families, I felt more sorry for the kids that committed the killings and that they got pushed to that limit and that no one saw it coming.

Like I said, I was tortured in school growing up, don't know why, never will. As a 'kid' many's the time, I thought about 'killing' some of my classmates. I'd never actually do it because no one deserves that. But, I know that if I didn't have such a great family and home life, I could have had some severe psychological damage. I mean, to this day, my self esteem isn't at 100%, but it could have been much much worse.

What do you all think

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i swear i could not disagree with you more. you felt more sorry for the kids with the guns that were killing people then the kids who were shot and terrified and scarred for the rest of their lives? if you have never been a victim of gun violence, you must not see this side of it. we all went through are tough times growing up and i would not do hs again if you paid me, not b/c i was picked on, i just did not like it. i had my days where i wondered how it could get worse, but i never thought about killing the people around me. this is jmo and not meant to flame you.

Re: Spinoff to high school

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Posted by smm2675

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Posted by don424

Time for a little controversy -- hopefully, we can respect each other

Julz's poll got me thinking back to the Columbine incident. The kids that killed a whole bunch of students were picked on alot by the in crowd, and the victims were jocks, cheerleaders, etc.

My feeling was and is that while I felt sorry for the kids that died and their families, I felt more sorry for the kids that committed the killings and that they got pushed to that limit and that no one saw it coming.

Like I said, I was tortured in school growing up, don't know why, never will. As a 'kid' many's the time, I thought about 'killing' some of my classmates. I'd never actually do it because no one deserves that. But, I know that if I didn't have such a great family and home life, I could have had some severe psychological damage. I mean, to this day, my self esteem isn't at 100%, but it could have been much much worse.

What do you all think

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i swear i could not disagree with you more. you felt more sorry for the kids with the guns that were killing people then the kids who were shot and terrified and scarred for the rest of their lives? if you have never been a victim of gun violence, you must not see this side of it. we all went through are tough times growing up and i would not do hs again if you paid me, not b/c i was picked on, i just did not like it. i had my days where i wondered how it could get worse, but i never thought about killing the people around me. this is jmo and not meant to flame you.

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no offense taken on my part, i respect your opinion

Re: Spinoff to high school

and i yours, don.

Re: Spinoff to high school

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Posted by smm2675

and i yours, don.

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see folks, now wasn't that easy?

Re: Spinoff to high school

ron & liz take note - soooo much love on NWR - we don't need no stinking off-topic board..

Re: Spinoff to high school

I can't say I 'feel sorry' for the killers at all...however I do feel as though people do push the psychological effects of bullying under the rug. It is very easy when you are an adult looking back on it to say...'well you have the rest of your life ahead of you', but when you are confused kid in HS, that IS your world, you aren't looking at it that way.

The fact of the matter is that too many children all over the country miss school because they are afraid to go due to possible physical abuse or public humiliation. Many children who withstand long-term bullying develop anxiety disorders and/or depression. I think it is horrible on the adults part to think that this is just a part of growing up and kids should get over it. I think it is important to protect innocent children, I also think it is important to teach children how to respect one another. One of the best ways to do it is by example.

Re: Spinoff to high school

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Posted by 070502

You couldn't pay me money to go back to high school.

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Me neither. I HATED it.

Re: Spinoff to high school

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Posted by 070502

You couldn't pay me money to go back to high school.

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My thoughts exactly.

Re: Spinoff to high school

I have such strong opinions on this topic.
I am a therapist on the child and adolescent unit in a psych hospital so I have a lot of experience with these type of kids.

I have often wondered if I feel sorrier for the parents of the kids who were killed or the parents of the killers.

Kids can be SO cruel. I have had kids at work that could be these killers, kids that have had floor plans and hit lists found in their rooms. It is really horrible.
I wouldn't say I feel worse for the shooters, but we have to remember these kids were mentally ill. If a kid is even just a little unbalanced and is tortured they can be pushed over the edge.

As far as the parents go, sometimes they are just clueless. I don't know much about the families in this case, but it isn't that unusual for teenage boys to distance themselves from their parents, even good parents, and the parents have no clue they are up to anything.

Re: Spinoff to high school

I seem to be the only one with this opinion, so we'll see how it goes... Although I feel bad for kids who are bullied, I think it's a complete cop-out to blame anyone but the murderous teenagers when it comes to Columbine or any other school shootings. So these kids were bullied. No, it's not the nicest thing in the world, but is it an excuse/reason for murder? In my opinion, HELL NO!
I can fully grasp that these kids had issues, and in all likelihood those issues were due largely in part to them being bullied, but that's still not good enough to make me feel sorry for them for being 'pushed' to commit murder.
Kids their age are tryed as adults, so if the courts acknowledge that they're old enough and responsible enough to know right from wrong, than they're nothing but muderers to me. Period.

This is just my opinion, so I hope I don't offend anyone.

Re: Spinoff to high school

while the whole incident was a tragedy, WHY were these kids ALLOWED to do what they were doing? where were their parents? I'm sorry, but what parent doesn't know their kids is building bombs in the GARAGE!! Ugh....that's what disappoints me the most is the parenting of these kids, or lacke thereof.

I feel bad for the the victims and the kids that did it...I wasn't popular in school nor a total geek...I was in between...like I was good enough for a school year if I helped the popular kids cheat in class. The next year, I was invisible again.

If things were that bad and they were pushed that far, why wasn't it noticed by teachers or parents or other friends? Why wasn't help sought out? It's a total What If situation....what would have happened if it was approached differently.

This was unheard of when I was in school just 10 years ago....why is it rampant now???

Re: Spinoff to high school

I HATED elementary school. There were these 3 girls that made fun of me for no reason. To this day i want to tell these 3 girls off. Such snobs. I had a lot of friends in jr and high school. But kids are so cruel.

Re: Spinoff to high school

OK..well i am sorry but i just don't feel sorry for these kids at all.
I do understand that they were picked on, bullied..etc etc.
THis has gone on in schools for years and years and years...But to do what they did...well they took that step a little bit too far. It would even be a little more understandable if they just took out the so-called bullies. But they didn't! They shot and killed innocent bystanders! THAT IS BS IN MY BOOK!
I feel VERY bad for the families of the victims, including the killers families.

ALSO...give me a break...where were the parents...jeez
Let's think back shall we...how open were we when we werr 15, 17. I know i wasn't. And i was pretty much the average kid. I hid things, my parents didn't know a lot. And that didn't make them bad or uninvolved parents! That is being a teenager! I see kids in the mall that look freakier than those boys...! Not every idoit out there was born from BAD PARENTING!
Who we should be really concerned with are the people that sold them the guns they used to kill!!!!!

Re: Spinoff to high school

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Posted by Sunny

Kids can be SO cruel. I have had kids at work that could be these killers, kids that have had floor plans and hit lists found in their rooms. It is really horrible.
I wouldn't say I feel worse for the shooters, but we have to remember these kids were mentally ill. If a kid is even just a little unbalanced and is tortured they can be pushed over the edge.

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We have actually had this at my job. A student had a hit list of teachers and students. Twice and I am talking about 7th graders, I have had students in my class with knives. I even had a former student (I don't know if anyone remembers) who got mad at his Grandmother and he burned down his house.

These kids are constantly surrounded by images of violence. They see it they hear it. It is hard.

I will say that in the last 3 years I have seen less acts of violence in my school. As the school's character education program evolves the kids become more and more sensitive to each other. Do I think they don't pick on each other. No I am not that naive I know they do. But there are more and more other students willing to stand up for those being picked on.

I don't know if there will ever be an easy answer. I wish there was.

Re: Spinoff to high school

It's sad that the kids got to this point. I do feel for them that they were made fun of, but that is no excuse for killing classmates. I was made fun of a lot in middle school and high school, probably not to the extent of these kids, and did I hope sometimes that some of these kids would have horrible things happen to them? Yes. Did I act out on them? No. There was much more going on than cruel kids and some violent movies...