Archive--Columbine

News

04/21/00

Columbine illustrated tragic results of socially acceptable peer abuse

By Charmaine Burningham

When peer abuse by middle school students is termed "normal adolescent behavior" by CNN on the 1-year anniversary of Columbine, it is difficult to argue that the particularly violent school shooting taught society anything.

While many people are still wondering what led Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris to shoot and kill fellow students and teachers last April 20, some educators are turning their focus toward the inappropriate social behaviors they witness in the classroom daily.

Spurred forward in part by the Colorado tragedy, many researchers have concluded that bullying in American schools has measurable negative results.

The conclusions of recent studies seem to dispute earlier research that concluded that bullies account for up to 15 percent of the school population. In fact, a study of a Midwestern middle school, cited by CNN, concluded that aggressive, abusive, and threatening actions were committed by over 80 percent of the students at least once a month.

These statistics are especially alarming when cruelty is recognized as more than just part of regular adolescent behaviors. Peer abuse is a common reason for retaliatory violence, according to young school shooters like those at Columbine.

It has been widely reported that the one of the motivations for the bloody rampage was that the shooters felt like social outcasts. Law enforcement authorities report that almost all of the boys who had committed school shootings in the last year, were teased by classmates.

In an effort to be pro-active rather than reactive to events like Columbine, numerous schools have implemented programs encouraging elimination of peer abuse.

One such program is the K.A.R.E. Foundation in Logan. K.A.R.E., which stands for Kindness Awareness Reformation Empowerment, presents a program called "Choosing to be Kind" to middle school students. This presentation was created to educate students about the harmful affects of their unkind behavior. In addition, it focuses on encouraging students to change their negative behaviors.

The program follows an experiential therapy model. In real-world terminology, the program teaches students what to do and gives them the opportunity to do it. The chance to perform kindness is accomplished through interactive postcards called "KARE-grams." Students are given a "KARE-gram" at the presentation that they can use to report kind acts they perform. For more information, e-mail the program at kare_foundation@yahoo.com.

Good results are reported in many of the pro-kindness programs being used throughout the country. CNN recently reported that one Eastern school had documented an 80 percent drop in visits to the principals office after they implemented a particular kindness program.