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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