after_enlightenment: education

hess and i got in a conversation this morning about the most recent school shooting which took place right here in our town, the same school system in which i was working this year. two things made the meat of this conversation at first, why wasnt asa coon in a juvenile mental health facility instead of free in the schools to address his rage (and for some reason, though hess wants me to write about it, i am hesitant to address the current lack of beds for adolescents, and my concerns around minors on adult units....of course it may have something to do with learning that an aquantance supposedly lost her job in a hospital system because they found her blog and did not appreciate the things she said about her employer and the medical system on it)and how does race play into the media coverage of this shooting

then we talked about the rend of school shootings, which of course brought up columbine as the mother of all school shootings

this brought up alot for me, as i am unclear on why columbine is the one always cited- was it because it was the largest number of dead? because it was conspiracy versus the lone shooter? how about because it is the first time middle-class, white america felt they had a stake in this type of phenomenon?

from wikipedia

Well known shootings
United States

University of Texas at Austin massacre - Austin, Texas, United States; August 1, 1966
Orangeburg Massacre - Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States; February 8, 1968
Kent State shootings - Kent, Ohio, United States; May 4, 1970
Jackson State killings - Jackson, Mississippi, United States; May 14-15, 1970
California State University, Fullerton Library Massacre - Fullerton, California, United States; July 12, 1976
Brenda Ann Spencer, Cleveland Elementary School - January 29, 1979
Parkway South Junior High School shooting - Saint Louis, Missouri, United States; January 20, 1983
Stockton massacre - Stockton, California, United States; January 17, 1989
University of Iowa shooting - Iowa City, Iowa, United States; November 1, 1991
Simon's Rock College of Bard shooting - Great Barrington, Massachusetts, United States; December 14, 1992
Lindhurst High School shooting - Marysville, Californa, United States; May 1, 1992
East Carter High School shooting - Grayson, Kentucky, United States; January 18, 1993
Richland High School shooting - Lynnville, Tennessee, United States; November 15, 1995.
Frontier Junior High shooting - Moses Lake, Washington, United States; February 2, 1996
Pearl High School shooting, Pearl, Mississippi, United States; October 1, 1997
Heath High School shooting, West Paducah, Kentucky, United States; December 1, 1997
Jonesboro massacre - Jonesboro, Arkansas, United States; March 24, 1998
Thurston High School shooting - Springfield, Oregon, United States; May 21, 1998
Columbine High School massacre - Columbine, Colorado, United States; April 20, 1999
Heritage High School shooting - Conyers, Georgia, United States; May 20, 1999
Santana High School - Santee, California, United States; March 5, 2001
Appalachian School of Law shooting - Grundy, Virginia, United States; January 16, 2002
Rocori High School shootings - Cold Spring, Minnesota, United States; September 24, 2003
Red Lake High School massacre - Red Lake, Minnesota, United States; March 21, 2005
Campbell County High School - Jacksboro, Tennessee: November 8, 2005
Platte Canyon High School shooting - Bailey, Colorado, United States; September 27, 2006
Weston High School shooting, Cazenovia, Wisconsin September 29, 2006
Amish school shooting - Nickel Mines, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States; October 2, 2006
Henry Foss High School - Tacoma, Washington, United States January 3, 2007
Virginia Tech massacre - Blacksburg, Virginia, United States; April 16, 2007
SuccessTech Academy shooting - Cleveland, Ohio, United States; October 10, 2007