In the infinite wisdom of our criminal justice system, Krystal Miller was just released into her father's custody on house arrest. You know, she's the sweet little 15-year-old who was plotting to blow up her school and shoot a few people at Gilbert High.
Krystal is, of course, not the first student to plot such an attack. Most memorably, the Columbine boys undertook a similar plan but, unfortunately, they completed their plot.
After much deliberation, I have discovered a common denominator with each of these school violence cases: The kids are always of above-average intelligence. This makes sense, in that planning and executing a massacre is not a job for the meek, and somehow it's hard to imagine that the student reading at a third-grade level could coordinate and lead such a task.
I liked Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine" just as much as the next guy, but where Moore indicts our fear-inducing society and easily accessible weapons as causing school-shootings, I point my finger in a different direction.
After one of these kids does a little carnage at school, the administration looks to the teachers, the teachers to the parents, the parents to their sons and daughters and they shrug in unison. They do their teary interviews for Newsweek and then try to solve the problem with "more hugs, fewer drugs."
A lack of compassion - that must be why students are killing each other. But instead of having a Goth Appreciation Day and making the whole class listen to Marilyn Manson, perhaps the administration should simply realize that public education is failing to keep these kids interested.
This doesn't mean I believe every school should be a theme park. Quite the contrary: Schools should focus only on education, and not try so hard to force-feed equality, political correctness, and cultural awareness.
These are issues better learned from one's parents or church, not an institution trying to prepare kids for the world. When last I checked, SATs and ACTs focus more on number crunching and verbal prowess than on how diverse one's thinking is.
The problem is that parents largely neglect this responsibility and expect the school to teach everything from ethics and values to the birds and the bees. Of course, when the students react poorly to this, their parents are the first to run to the superintendent and sue for better grades, claim discrimination, or say that little Billy hasn't had his Ritalin.
Look at Krystal's folks: Her dad is afraid of her, and her mother has an admirable record of neglect and denial. She has only taught Krystal how best to take a punch.
Granted, little Krystal doesn't deserve to be thought of as a victim - to hell with the notion that she's without blame. When I was 15, I knew precisely what I was doing, though I usually did it poorly. Of course, back then we weren't promised headlines and book deals for spraying down a school with bullets.
So perhaps it is the glory that such a deed gleans that we should evaluate. Krystal, in the confiscated letter that foiled her plot, encourages her friends by writing about how glorious the headlines will be.
She didn't plan on doing this just for the fun of watching classmates die or so that she could solve her own problems. She wanted headlines. And we would gladly give them to her.
We would read a plethora of articles, shake our heads in disbelief, and ask one another, "Why did this happen?" Much like a child discovering the reaction to her first swear word, these homicidal students will forever think of these attacks as a way to draw attention. Ever since Columbine, there's nothing better to generate notice than a school shooting.
As mentioned, though, students like Krystal are atypical. Despite the consensus from those with heads set firmly in the sand, not all students are equal.
One wouldn't train every dog the same way. We see how they respond to particular rewards, punishments, commands and requests. Something is wrong when we treat dogs with more individuality than students.
It is no wonder that many American children cannot find their country on a globe. Despite the money thrown at this problem time and again by politicians eager to appease, it is not money that is needed. We need reform.
Education is not improved when students are bullied in the hallways and ignored by their teachers for being exceptional and not sharing in the same negligent attitude of the students who are satisfied with futile lessons and gladly ringing the F end of the bell curve.
In schools where Fs are viewed as a symbol of "fun," A's will continue to be indicators of "attacks."
Darren Todd is an English Literature Senior. Reach him at lawrence.todd@asu.edu.
