Focus on School Shootings

HEIDI KOKHOLM OG LENE NIELSEN

HEIDI KOKHOLM LENE NIELSEN

We all know that crossing a heavy trafficked street can be dangerous and that parachuting is a risky business. Therefore, we make sure to mind the cars before we walk and we double check the parachute before jumping. But what about a normal daily activity like attending school – is that safe?

Yes it is!

And therefore, when something terrible happens at a school the entire world is shocked and repulsed.

School gun violence is a growing problem around the world and in the United States it has happened so frequently, that a term, school shooting, has been popularized by the media to describe the problem. But why does it happen more often in the United States than in other countries? Is something in the American culture to blame or is it just an ill-fated coincidence?

SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

This book offers you a broader view on the issue. You will read about a few of the best known American school shootings. You will get to know the gunmen, the victims and the bereaved. You will discuss the Second Amendment that gives all American citizens the right to own a gun, and you will hear how the general public react to the school shootings, the gun laws and the steps taken to avoid future violent assaults.

Why does it happen? What is done to prevent it? When will it stop?

– Well. This book gives you the details and lets you do the maths…

ISBN 9788723029041

9 788723 029041 www.alinea.dk

ALINEA

ISBN 978-87-23-02904-1

ALINEA

CONTENTS TIMELINE – A Short List INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE – Columbine

Preface

Columbine High School

Tears

Please Remember

Columbine Mother Commits Suicide

Emergency 911

In Memoriam

4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

CHAPTER TWO – Why, But Why?

Preface 22

The School Shooting at Thurston High 24

Kip Kinkel 25

Brenda Spencer 26

I Don’t Like Mondays 28

Red Lake 30

Red Lake: Teen Life 31

Marilyn Manson – Whose Fault Is It? 32

Come Out And Play 34

Victim or Perpetrator?

36 CHAPTER THREE – The Right to Bear Arms

Preface 38

The Second Amendment

American Voices: The Second Amendment 40

The Carry and Conceal Law 44

American Voices: The Carry and Conceal Law 45 CHAPTER FOUR – The System Fights Back

Preface

Zero Tolerance Policy

Student Behavior Handbook

American Voices: Pro and Con Zero Tolerance

Lockdowns

Intruder with Intent

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Students Teaching Students

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TIMELINE – A Short List

January 29, 1979 GROVER CLEVELAND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL San Diego, California 2 dead 8 wounded

May 18, 1927 CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL OF BATH Bath, Michigan 45 dead 58 wounded

March 13, 1996 DUNBLANE PRIMARY SCHOOL Dunblane, Scotland 17 dead

May 21, 1998 THURSTON HIGH SCHOOL Springfield, Oregon 4 dead 22 wounded

March 24, 1998 WESTSIDE MIDDLE SCHOOL Jonesboro, Arkansas 5 dead 10 wounded

April 20, 1999 COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL Littleton, Colorado 15 dead 23 wounded

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March 21, 2005 RED LAKE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL Red Lake, Minnesota 10 dead

L

February 29, 2000 BUELL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Flint, Michigan 1 dead

May 20, 1999 HERITAGE HIGH SCHOOL Conyers, Georgia 6 wounded

April 16, 2007 VIRGINIA TECH UNIVERSITY Blacksburg, Virginia 33 dead 15 wounded

October 3, 2006 West Nickel Mines AMISH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania 6 dead 5 wounded

1 CONVERSATION QUESTIONS Worksheet 2 2 IN GROUPS: FACT FILE Make a fact file about the most recent school shooting. Compare your findings with the findings of the rest of your class.

3 IN GROUPS: LISTEN TO THE EXPERTS Worksheets 3a + 3b Are there any similarities in these school shootings?

What surprised you the most about the shootings?

TASKS

April 26, 2002 JOHAN GUTENBERG HIGH SCHOOL Erfurt, Germany 16 dead 7 wounded

September 23, 2008 KAUHAJOKI SCHOOL OF HOSPITALITY, Kauhajoki, Finland 11 dead 1 wounded

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INTRODUCTION

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School shootings frighten students, parents and teachers all over the world. In horror, we watch terrifying clips from the latest crime scene on the news, frustrated and shocked over the fact that it seems to happen again and again.

One country has more incidents of students killing other students than any other country. The most gruesome and infamous school shootings have taken place in the United States.

This book is put together from first-hand accounts, websites, newspaper articles, poetry, advertisements and authentic interviews of average middle-class Americans.

You will read about a few of the best known school shootings, and you will get to know the gunmen, the victims and the bereaved as you gain a broader view of the issues.

Some of the questions that you will no doubt ask yourself are: Why do school shootings happen? What makes a young person like me commit such a serious and meaningless crime? Is it the music? The violent computer games? A poor upbringing? Are there any reasons at all?

How do young people get access to weapons and knowledge of how to use them? Do the laws in the United States encourage people to own handguns?

Why would they?

What is being done to prevent school shootings from happening? And when they happen, how can we protect innocent young people from harm?

Through the texts, listening exercises and tasks this book will give you the knowledge to answer these questions.

Good Reading, Lene and Heidi

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CHAPTER ONE

COLUMBINE Preface

The story of two young boys who vented their aggressions on their own school with teachers and classmates as the targets of their shooting rampage has been covered by the media in painstaking detail.

Many innocent teenagers were killed in the Colum­ bine High School shooting. In the end, the boys turned their weapons on themselves and committed suicide. They had a suicide pact. When they started their rampage, they knew that they would not come out alive.

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The point of this chapter is to introduce you to an actual school shooting episode and the terrible costs it has had for both the bereaved relatives and society in general.

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COLUMBINE HIGH SCHOOL Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold arrived at school in their cars around 11 o’clock in the morning on April 20, 1999. They entered the school. They went to the cafeteria where they planted bombs that were intended to explode at lunchtime when the cafeteria would be filled with pupils. Then they went back to their cars to watch the events unfold.

Things did not go according to plan. After realizing that the bombs would not go off, Eric and Dylan re-entered the school heavily armed, determined to

kill anyone they met. Their first victims were a couple who had just stepped outside the front door. Once inside, the two boys shot at anyone they met on their way to the cafeteria. 911 received several emergency calls from the school and the police arrived but did not enter the building.

At around 11:30 am, the two boys were in the library.

Wearing a white baseball cap at Columbine High School was a tradition amongst sports team members. Eric and Dylan yelled, “All jocks stand up!” and,

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The shooting stopped at around 12 o’clock when Eric and Dylan used their weapons to commit suicide. The police and rescue forces did not enter the building until 1 o’clock. The final search for wounded and dead continued until 4:00 pm.

1 IN PAIRS: Fact File Make fact files about Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Compare your findings with another pair.

Write down any new information.

TASK

“We’ll get the guys in white hats.” When no one stood up, they methodically started killing students who were hiding under the tables.

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TEARS

by Jamie Rowen

I did not cry for Michigan.

It seemed before my time. I did not cry for Jonesboro, too far away to mind. I did not cry for Palisades even though it may be mine.

I did not cry for Conyers, Georgia.

By then it all seemed fine.

But I poured my heart right through my eyes the day they shot up Columbine.

The tears they fell for children lost and children on the line.

My head fell quick into my hands for parents who must pine.

My eyes stayed glossy to a screen watching kids of my own climb.

TASKS

But, what shook my body up the most, what made it hard to breathe, what bolted all my stomach down and wouldn’t let me leave.

What made me think about those boys and try to empathize was the fright, the fear, the look of death in one scared victim’s eyes.

She described a scene so horror filled so wrapped with movie cuts.

I thought about these kids and film, what put them in their ruts.

I ruled out only media we all watch similar things.

But combined with loneliness and fear who knows what games can bring?

One lesson to be learned from this, the only one of which I’m sure, is that a gun manufacturer, movie title, music lyric, parent, anti-depressant, Internet, trench coat, insult, or whatever else, is not the thing at fault.

And no gun policy, censorship, parent in jail, drug ban, website check, dress code, suspension, or whatever else, would have removed their every thought.

We must take looks inside ourselves, accepting looks with love.

For what they didn’t like in someone else is what they saw in themselves.

1 Vocabulary Building Worksheet 1 2 multiple choice Worksheets 4a + 4b 3 Group Discussion From whose perspective is this story in the poem told? Has Jamie Rowen ever been in a school shooting? Why is Jamie telling the story?

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