[Glenn]

Thanks Richard,

As a skinny/short farm country kid from Baltimore, County MD - who dressed
differently and had a crew cut I got bussed into elementary school.

The Elementary school I remember was a dangerous Dungeon-like place.

I got roughed up, Made fun of, picked on and chased a lot. And that was
done by the other kids alone. The teachers were worse.

My memories of school as Hell-on-earth are still vivid.

But -at least- none of the Bullies in my day were carrying guns.

Miss Whip used to Hit me with a ruler.

Miss Lamont terrified us all by hanging us out the 2nd floor window by our
legs. Or head down in the trash can. She was 200 pounds of solid muscle.

Mr Gerda used to put me in a corner wearing a Dunce Cap when I turned
around to get Nancy Belt to stop poking me with her sharpened pencil.

I still remember names and faces.

I spent a lot of time in the library.

Disappearing into other lands, cultures, worlds. No student OR Teacher Bullies there.

It NEVER occurred to me to SHOOT anybody though.

Our society seems to be moving fast in many not so healthy directions.

Access to weapons.
Pervasive violence in games,
horror movies,
MMRP Games like World of Warcraft have Changed.

Naturally that will manifest in school.

The drug gangs in every city and town in the USA seem to give people
PERMISSION to shoot or maim.

What am I saying?

From MY Perspective elementary school doesn't seem to have changed
Violence-wise. BUT The Weapons have become more dangerous.

And the Cultural inhibition against
violence seems to be out the window.

My Question from the Perspective of the little kid who shot the elementary
school principal and the others -- Because I came back from school bloody and bruised more often than not - is who or What made him so angry??

Who was he getting REVENGE on?

Maybe I'm wrong.

I admit MY PERSPECTIVE is radically SLANTED by my own
childhood experiences.

But as children from all over the world Race past USA Educated kids
in academic subjects - maybe there is a Deeper - More serious problem
Right in front of our Faces.

Based on my Rotten Elementary School Experience - if my classmates
had been allowed to tote guns - I'd be dead.

I couldn't outrun a bullet on the playground.

ON THE PLUS Side - Maybe some of my sadistic teachers would have been nicer if their students
were armed.

YUCK.

I don't like to think back to my Terror filled school days.

Sort of boggles the mind.

Glenn Osborn
Elementary School Survivor