Columnist Sandy Thompson: Teen zeroes in on school violence roots

Sandy Thompson

Friday, July 27, 2001 | 4:42 a.m.

Sandy Thompson is vice president/associate editor of the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached at 259-4025 or e-mail at thompson@lasvegassun.com

ALTHOUGH ONLY 13, a local eighth-grader has a mature insight into the roots of youth violence in the schools.

He zeroed in on the issue in a paper he wrote as an end-of-the-year history class assignment.

"People are afraid of what they don't understand and people do not understand what causes teens to go off the deep-end. People will not face their fears, so they do what comes natural to them -- blame others," he writes.

"No one is willing to face the truth and acknowledge the bare facts: school violence is mainly caused by ignorance and unwillingness to understand the American teen and find out what we think and why we think this way."

In his paper, Kurt (we'll refer to him only by his first name because of his age) asks the following questions:

"Is your home environment a happy one, full of love, support and communication?

"Do children feel they are all they can be?

"Does your school system provide enough education by teachers who enjoy their job, educating the young? Are they supportive and encouraging?

"Are there enough activities in school and society to provide a safe, fun place for children to grow? Are they off the streets, or are they getting involved in drugs, alcohol and weapons?

"Are parents taking the initiative to see that their children are in a productive environment, not a destructive one?"

The questions are right on target.

Kurt believes that much of the violence in schools is due to "poor upbringing" caused by "poverty, overexerted materialism or even under-education."

He notes that most of the youths across the country who have committed acts of school violence live in suburban areas. " ... Materialism dominates the mindset of Americans living in suburbia. Parents fail to recognize the social needs and demands of teens and think everything can be solved with a night at the movies or a new video game."

That, he adds, only induces the idea that you are just an obstacle in society and not a person.

Kurt says many of his friends have not been shown a lot of love and attention by their parents. So they "block out all emotions and become a recluse." Last year, "quite a few" kids he knew contemplated suicide. "That's sickening for junior high," he says.

The bottom line is that "parents need to shape up" and more effectively communicate with their children. Kurt says he wrote his paper in part to get his own family's attention.

"I have some of the same (communication) problems in my home, but they're not as serious," he says. "I love my parents dearly and they love me, too."

Kurt, who wants to be a writer, doesn't know what grade he received on his paper, only that he earned an A for the class. He enjoys reading and is interested in history and ancient civilizations. He says he forms his own opinions about issues after doing his own research; he doesn't just take someone else's word on a subject.

It bothers Kurt that violence has become an acceptable part of society. "Listen to MTV for a half-hour and all they talk about is drugs and killing people. It's just the environment we live in. It's sick."

Teaching young children to be kind to each other because we are all alike "positively will not solve" the problem of school violence, Kurt says.

"It isn't a sense of difference or a lack of compassion that leads these would-be murderers to homicidal slaughter, but a lack of true sense of belonging and personal worth," he writes.

That statement says it all. Without a sense of belonging and worth, our children will be lost.