School Violence

[MicBat]

Junior High Student Shoots Principal, Kills Self
Thu April 24, 2003 10:21 AM ET
RED LION, Pa. (Reuters) - A student shot and apparently killed the principal of his junior high school on Thursday and then fatally shot himself, local officials said.
The principal of Red Lion Area Junior High School was hit at least once in the chest and taken to a local hospital, while the student was pronounced dead at the scene, said York County Emergency Management spokesman Mike Fetrow.

There was no immediate confirmation of the principal's death, but hospital officials referred questions about his condition to the county coroner's office.

The school is located in the town of Red Lion, about 30 miles southeast of Harrisburg. Neither the principal nor the student was officially identified.

There was no immediate word on a motive for the shooting, which occurred just as the school day was beginning.

"There's not much we can say at this point, except that a student walked into the school, shot the principal in the chest, apparently turned the gun on himself," Fetrow said.

 

[mightyduck]

I am so glad I am on vacation today. Dealing with these kinds of tragedies in the classroom takes a lot out of me (probably all of us who do it, and do it entirely too often as far as I'm concerned).

I think a lot of this is because the shift in kindergarten and first grade has gone from learning social schools and becoming integrated into a "school" environment to one of strict academics. Add to this the rest of society's ills, and you have a recipe for disaster. You know why schools have so many "vacations"? Because they are pressure cookers, especially in junior high and high schools, and being apart for awhile is the best way to let tempers cool.... Sorry to see that in this case, even a spring break didn't help.

Sorry, I'm rambling....

 

[DanStat]

Originally posted by mightyduck
You know why schools have so many "vacations"? Because they are pressure cookers, especially in junior high and high schools, and being apart for awhile is the best way to let tempers cool....

That cannot be more true! Our fight/expulsion rate almost DOUBLED, since we haven't had a teacher workday sine December. We lost too many days to snow, and kids were getting "cabin fever".

 

[mightyduck]

Originally posted by disneyprep50321
That cannot be more true! Our fight/expulsion rate almost DOUBLED, since we haven't had a teacher workday sine December. We lost too many days to snow, and kids were getting "cabin fever".

I teach in an inner-city high school, and we have had the same problem with an increase in violence. With all the snow days, the bd of ed was originally going to eliminate spring break, which we all knew was a bad idea, but now we go from next week until June 30th! This is going to be a nightmare. I wish the state would have waived a day or two that we lost to snow from the mandatory in-school count so we could get out a week earlier.

 

[TURKEY]

Originally posted by mightyduck

I think a lot of this is because the shift in kindergarten and first grade has gone from learning social schools and becoming integrated into a "school" environment to one of strict academics. Add to this the rest of society's ills, and you have a recipe for disaster.

Maybe we're behind the times (of course we are, I'm in Arkansas), but schools aren't really strict academics.

My mom teaches kindergarten and they still get play time and naps. They focus on learning, but she makes it as fun as possible so it doesn't seem so all academics especially strict academics.

 

[Testtrack321]

We're not talking about kindergarden, just middle school.

Man, middle school sucked...

 

[mightyduck]

Originally posted by turkey leg boy
Maybe we're behind the times (of course we are, I'm in Arkansas), but schools aren't really strict academics.

My mom teaches kindergarten and they still get play time and naps. They focus on learning, but she makes it as fun as possible so it doesn't seem so all academics especially strict academics.

No, in New Jersey kindergarten is all letter sounds and children are reading at the end of the year. You should see the curriculum here. Very little play time in kindergarten.

 

[MicBat]

Originally posted by Testtrack321
We're not talking about kindergarden, just middle school.

Man, middle school sucked...

Oh yeah.. it did!

 

[TURKEY]

Originally posted by mightyduck
No, in New Jersey kindergarten is all letter sounds and children are reading at the end of the year. You should see the curriculum here. Very little play time in kindergarten.

That stinks. Of course it may also be the fact that I went to school in a town with 800 people and only 300 kids K-12.

 

[mightyduck]

Originally posted by turkey leg boy
That stinks. Of course it may also be the fact that I went to school in a town with 800 people and only 300 kids K-12.

Maybe, or it might just be that times have changed. The sad part is, we know that the research tells us children will learn those letter sounds in a matter of months at the first grade level, but it takes several times as long to teach them at the kindergarten level. We are no longer teaching children according to their stage of development but according to some wider political agenda for having children read earlier and earlier in the name of literacy. Some children are ready to read much earlier, but we are putting a lot of pressure on more children this way. I believe kindergarten should be all about socialization. Robert Fulghum made a fortune by reflecting on what kindergarten used to be about: learning to get along, finding the place for everything, and being introduced to the wonder of learning. We've lost that, and I think it is in part manifesting itself in the frustrations of junior high and high school students who never learned to enjoy learning and have been working at a frustration level since they were five years old.

Just my opinion as an educator who sees them at the other end. I lose too many students to work pressures, financial pressures, depression, apathy, teen parenthood, and the justice system.

 

[mightyduck]

Oh, and middle school does suck.

 

[Mr Bill]

22 more days and I am out of middle school forever!!!!!!!!:sohappy: :sohappy: :sohappy:

 

[darthdarrel]

I blame parents for not instilling basic values into their children and I also blame the schools for their lack of discipline.

 

[AliciaLuvzDizne]

Originally posted by mightyduck
Maybe, or it might just be that times have changed. The sad part is, we know that the research tells us children will learn those letter sounds in a matter of months at the first grade level, but it takes several times as long to teach them at the kindergarten level. We are no longer teaching children according to their stage of development but according to some wider political agenda for having children read earlier and earlier in the name of literacy. Some children are ready to read much earlier, but we are putting a lot of pressure on more children this way. I believe kindergarten should be all about socialization. Robert Fulghum made a fortune by reflecting on what kindergarten used to be about: learning to get along, finding the place for everything, and being introduced to the wonder of learning. We've lost that, and I think it is in part manifesting itself in the frustrations of junior high and high school students who never learned to enjoy learning and have been working at a frustration level since they were five years old.

Just my opinion as an educator who sees them at the other end. I lose too many students to work pressures, financial pressures, depression, apathy, teen parenthood, and the justice system.

My dad was able to teach me how to read BEFORE kindergarten, but i was in NO WAY ready to learn too much more!! (not that i was dumb...but i was 4and a half! I would rather have been playing) Kindergarten was very much so a socializing institution for us, we had different learning/play stations. we learned what we needed to, but first grade was hard for me! there was a big difference, yet i wasnt much older. (i was put in school too early anyways but there were quite a few of us who had to repeat first grade that year)

i think they expect you to grow up too fast in elementary school, then when you do grow up fast...they forbid you to hold hands with a boy in middle school!! (they did at my school anyways) middle school is the hardest age to deal with and i gotta hand it to you to teach at that level! pre-teens are so... hormonal lol

 

[DanStat]

Most middle school kids get in fights over stupid stuff. That doesn't really change in high school, I've noticed.

 

[mej]

I teach in 5 year olds in Northern Ireland and we are moving to the idea of less formal work in the early years - and rightly so IMHO. We just need to sell it to the parents!

 

[mightyduck]

Originally posted by mej
I teach in 5 year olds in Northern Ireland and we are moving to the idea of less formal work in the early years - and rightly so IMHO. We just need to sell it to the parents!

Glad to see some areas are discovering that the overly structured learning environments don't go well with young child brains.

Good for you!