By LEE N. HOWELL

Politically speaking

It was probably only a matter of time before some depressed (or stressed), upper middle class, white, male student (so far there have been no poor, female, or black shooters — indeed, many of the victims have been female and sometimes blacks have been targeted!) went on a shooting rampage at his high school in one of those affluent suburban counties which ring Atlanta.

After all, this is no longer some sleepy, Southern community which only watches as the rest of the world passes by: We are now “where it's at” — an international city, one which has hosted the Olympics and a Super Bowl, and one in which all the pressures afflicting other major metropolises are present.

Recently, it finally happened at Heritage High School in nearby Rockdale County. (Fortunately, no one was killed, though six students were injured, several of which required surgical treatment and hospitalization.)

It could just as well have happened at Eagle's Landing High School in Henry County, or at Lovejoy High School in Clayton, or most any of the schools in Fayette or Cobb or Gwinnett.

Since the incident, there has been a lot of comment, some of it informed and some of it not so informed, from a wide range of pontificaters.

And, this latest incident — in the long, sad string of shooting rampages on high school campuses which have left 29 dead and nearly 100 wounded in seven states over the last three years — has been used as prima facie evidence as to why we need to tighten gun control legislation by the traditionally anti-gun liberals.

At the risk of sounding like Moses (or, at least, like Charlton Heston), allow me to make one thing perfectly clear: Guns are not the problem.

Now, I am probably as anti-gun as they come — and I support much stricter gun control legislation than what anyone has yet dared to propose (because I believe we may all have to sacrifice some of our freedoms in order to have a society as secure as we want) — but getting tough in response to a tragedy is not the answer to this problem.

The simple fact is that far too many public schools today — and I don't just mean the high schools where these shootings have occurred, but junior highs and, even, elementary, schools as well — are war zones, in every sense of the word. They are flashpoints waiting for a disaster to happen.

Learning is too often an accident, because the classroom teachers, as well as administrators and, even, non-certified personnel, have to spend far too much of their time attempting to maintain order in their classrooms.

Oh, no, I can hear you moan, not another harangue about discipline!

Yes, another harangue about discipline!

Why?

Because this — and not guns — is the problem which is destroying our public school systems.

Now, not every child who is growing up today is a discipline problem.

But, any of you can go into almost any public school anywhere in this country and you will immediately realize that it is not the experience you remember from your own school days.

Students are “sassing” their teachers — and saying or doing things to them none of us would have dreamed of saying or doing to our teachers when we were in school; they are refusing to do their classwork, their homework, and just about anything else their teachers tell them to do — and when they really don't like something the teacher says, many of them kick, hit, or use a weapon against them.

And, the worst thing about this “jungle” is that too often they are getting away with it.

Obviously, the situation is the worst at the high school level (as I found out when I was substitute teaching a few years ago), but it is not much better at the junior high level which, after all, is just the high school training ground.

Too often, teachers end up acting like nothing more than a referee at a kangaroo basketball game: They don't even bother trying to discipline the students because they realize that the administrators are too often going to end up siding with their outraged parents — especially if those parents are the type who might appear at the next school board meeting and complain to them about the way their little darlings are being mistreated.

How do we solve the problem?

Imposing a stricter discipline code and instituting some character education in our curriculum might help — and both should be begun in the primary grades where the values which guide our decision-making are learned.

Ridding our teacher's colleges of all those courses which emphasize psychological babble to explain why children are not as disciplined as they once were.

Bringing back the paddle: I was paddled one time in front of the entire class in the first grade and when my grandmother came to walk me home and heard what had happened, I got another one as soon as she found a switch. (I learned my lesson and never acted up in school again.)

Electing school boards with backbone who will support the principals and teachers who must enforce discipline in order for learning to occur in the classrooms.

Finally, remember that not all kids who “act up” in class have “problems,” need counseling, or are misunderstood: Some students are just plain mean little kids and they have to be punished, not coddled, when they do bad things.

If we don't stop letting our kids get away with “murder,” then there will probably be a lot more blood on the schoolroom floor.

[Lee N. Howell is an award-winning writer who has been observing politics and society in the Southern Crescent, the state, and nation for the past 25 years.

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