The Columbine Massacre

Introduction

Violence in the nation's schools has gained a great deal of attention since the high-profile school shootings during the 1990s. The Columbine High School massacre in 1999 was the pivotal event that launched the problem of school violence into the media spotlight. Twelve students and a teacher were killed that day, and 23 others were wounded before the assailants took their own lives. This tragic event created an implicit and growing fear that these events would continue to occur and even escalate in scale and severity. Consequently, students, parents, teachers, school officials, law enforcement, and community members frantically searched for answers as to how this could have happened and what, if anything, could be done to prevent it from re-occurring in the future. This entry explores the definition, prevalence, and risk factors associated with school violence. It concludes with a discussion of the school response to the problem of school violence.

Discussion

Columbine changed the philosophy of Dave Cullen's teaching. It got Dave Cullen thinking about the way to label the students as if each one can fit into a box, good student, poor student, trouble maker etc, the essence is still the student. Yes, some labeling is necessary, especially for the gifted and the learning disabled so that they may receive services, but if we are only invested in teaching the subject matter to the labels, we are doing everyone a disservice. (Astor, 2001)

Important elements of the Dave Cullen's Columbine

How the mainstream media ran with rumors and repeatedly got the story wrong for years, actually. And how those falsehoods still endure today, more than a decade later, despite overwhelming evidence proving the myths wrong.

The reason the media got things so wrong was that everyone wanted/needed an explanation - an answer to the question “Why?” But because the evidence, foremost among it being the killers' journals - took so long to be shared with the public, the void was filled with wild rumors - remember the Trench Coat Mafia? And experts assuming it had to be bullying or jocks or something else.

Harris and Klebold actually wanted to blow up the entire school and kill as many of the 2,000 students as possible, and in fact had made and planted massive bombs inside the school and inside their cars as well. The bombs in their cars were supposed to kill the first responders, media members and police who would flock to ...