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Shooting galleries

B. S. Raghavan

ON July 28, a US court sentenced a 14-year old boy who shot his teacher dead for no apparent reason to 28 years in prison without parole or time off for good behaviour, followed by two years in house arrest and a further five years of probation. This is only the latest in a series of similar crimes in which students have been involved.

In fact, in the eyes of many parents and teachers in the US, educational institutions are fast becoming perilous shooting galleries. Disgruntled or psychotic students think nothing of indulging in mass shooting of fellow students and teachers. Instances of students bringing pistols and guns to classes just for the heck of it are not unknown. In media interviews, teachers have expressed their unwillingness to take students to task for fear of becoming victims of their wrath. The US National Education Ass ociation has recently decided to offer an ``unlawful homicide'' insurance cover of $150,000 to teachers.

The rot starts at the elementary schools. Educational authorities have frequently complained of children indulging in defiant and often dangerous misbehaviour, showing no fear of, or respect for, even the heads of institutions, leave alone their class te achers. For instance, a principal of a school in the nation's capital was spat upon by a child, kicked by another and tripped by a third, leaving her sprawling on all fours. An 8- year old boy studying in her school threatened to burn down the building, pointing out the spot where he would pour the petrol! In a single week last year, according to a published report, a first grader obscenely exposed himself in the full view of the class; a third grader overturned his desk and pelted his teacher with vile st of abuses; a fourth grader kicked another girl in the back as they walked down the hall; a fifth grader told his teacher to shut up when she tried to reason with him.

As a research scholar at the Institute on Violence and destructive behaviour put it: ``(The problem) is accelerating way beyond our ability to get effective interventions in place... Our society has gone into a self-indulgent paroxysm of anger and social fragmentation. We provide disastrous models for our children on how to relate, from the congressman to the street vendor. We are rude, disrespectful, inconsiderate and we do not care''.

But some others see the problem differently. Angry parents and grandparents of the US recently took out a full page advertisement in the newspapers, putting the blame squarely on TV channels, movies and music company heads. Quoting facts and figures, the y have accused them of breeding violence, encouraging kids to use drugs, leading children to early sex, and playing a heinous role in causing school shootings and teen suicides.

Here is a small extract giving an idea of the anger felt by them: ``We find you guilty of a monstrous evil...We are outraged that the overwhelming evidence of the tragic consequences is not being publicised so you are able to get away with denying the ho rrendous harm you are causing.''

However, parents too must share the blame for failing to control or discipline their children and letting them have their way under a mistaken notion of freedom.