Two thoughts occurred to me while pondering this melacholy event and the postings in this thread:
1. Guns: when I was a kid in the late 50's and early 60's you could buy a gun through the mail (there were pages of them in the Sears catalog), in sporting goods stores, at unregulated gun shows and any number of other places (and this was in suburban N.J., not in Dogpatch somewhere) yet these things simply didn't seem to occur back then. I truly don't think that the availability of guns (in suburban America, at least) is really the issue with this type of incident; the guns were always there.
2. High School: One common theme that seems to run through these incidents involves student outcasts turning on their (perceived) student persecutors. Kind of a ghastly "Revenge of the Nerds" with guns and bombs.
I personally had a great time in high school, but it seems that I may have been extremely fortunate in this regard. Many people who become extremely successful in later life were apparently truly scarred by their high school years, and described them as a living hell, based largely on their treatment by their peers.
It seems that since the advent of universal public education in the late 19th century we have created a situation somewhat unique in human history, wherein large groups of young adults in their most uncertain, confused and hormone-crazed stage of life are compelled to spend most of their time in almost a factory-like setting with only each other for company and with minimal adult interaction. Such adult interaction that they have is principally in groups facing a somewhat remote teacher or administrator, and not on an individual level with adults who could be regarded as peers or friends. I believe this lack of adult interaction is probably even more pervasive among loners and social outcasts, who do not deal with athletic coaches, faculty activities moderators and others outside the classroom setting.
In most phases of human history, people of high school age would already be working side by side with adults, in the fields or the house or the military or whatever, and learning how things really are in the "real world." As an example, can you imagine the captain of the company softball team really being considered a Big Man On Campus around the average corporation? Compare that to the situation in your average high school.
In early 21st century America, students interact mostly with each other until they're out of high school (and possibly college) and into the workplace. Without TRUE adult guidance, on a personal and daily basis, it's possible to imagine how high school could turn into a kind of adolescent "Lord of the Flies" with Beemers in the parking lot.
This situation is obviously not a new one (perceived persecution of the geeks by the popular has undoubtedly existed since the dawn of civilization) but recently it has been combined with other factors (extreme violence in the media, the breakdown of the family, etc) to create incidents like this one and Columbine.
Any of the educators out there have any thoughts on this? It's been a depressingly long time since I was in high school, and I'm struggling to understand what somehow happened in the interim.
