The Monsters In Our Schools

Are monsters running amok in our public schools? Yes, indeed, argues columnist James Carroll:

In recent weeks, men have savagely attacked children in schools. In Colorado, one was murdered, while five were assaulted. In Pennsylvania, five were murdered, with five others left wounded. In both cases, the expressly targeted victims were girls. Pre meditation included sexual assault. Whole communities were traumatized. Across the nation, the fragile surface of civility was shattered. The American epidemic of violence was made immeasurably more threatening. Children everywhere could feel vulnerable to new and inappropriate insecurities. And in both cases, having wreaked such havoc, the assailants escaped retribution by suicide.

Tomorrow, top US law and education officials will meet to consider the safety of schools -- an urgent project. But what about the men who committed such heinous crimes? Faced with such moral chaos, how are we to think of them?

One hears it said that every monster is someone to whom, at some point in the past, something monstrous was done. Because it affirms a principle of order, however perverse, the idea has appeal, and may be discernibly true in some instances.

Consider reading the whole thing.

Sadly, I see schools continuing to be thought of as high-profile "soft" targets by those monsters who seek to attack our society. ---------------------------See our latest EduPosts here and this date's Extra Credit Reading there.