Ah! What came to mind and I saw this first hand is that most places were lax about enforcing rules. A pocket knife, for example, was no big deal. Not anymore. As a matter of fact they're going to the other extreme. One thing to keep in mind about Wiki is that because of it's very nature it's not considered a reputable resource for quoting. It has no *reliable* source(s). I, myself, like Wiki just because it can get me to basic information and lead me to other resources. Thanks for the link.

Most schools themselves have a policy on drugs, weapons even gang clothing. But there are always those that break the rules.

But we are getting off from the original reason of the post - so lets try to stay within the topic.
[prayers, meditation, and expressions of spirituality]

Thank you

A discussion of the gun/weapons @ schools issue can be started on the Social Chat forum.
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forumdisplay.php?f=35

My heart goes out to the family and friends of those students. The one to blame is gone. I don't think it's right to blame anyone else. Extra security measures and laws can be put in place, but I'm not sure if it's possible to protect ourselves against anger and hatred in people. We'd only be imprisoning ourselves.

I hope the media won't continue to hound the people effected by this. Some of their questions are very insensitive and exploitative. I hope they give the families and friends a little room to heal. I wouldn't want to have cameras zoom in on me when I'm crying and grieving from such an open wound.

and lets not forget to pray for the family of the shooter......

Absolutely. His family must be devastated. As devastated as all the rest of the families. This is something they will all carry with them for the rest of their lives and beyond.

I cant begin to imagine how the family of the shooter must be feeling....their own grief at losing a son multiplied by the enormity of what he did

We also need to pray for the senior students at VT....it is just weeks away from their final exams............

even all the koreans worldwide feel shame the news says - i gues s thats their culture that does that to them

Hi Clouds

I suspect he had problems fitting in from the time he came here and never learned any social skills. He was probably considered an oddball from the beginning, especially if he lived outside of a South Korean neighborhood. He probably didn't learn how to interact with other people, and he didn't learn how to release anger/frustration constructively.

I won't blame the parents on this though. Is it true they've been hospitalized due to shock over this? Parents are responsible for their children, but it's not fair to blame them - there's no "one size fits all" manual for raising sound children.

Not to change the subject, but I worry about the trend of home-schooling and how these home-schooled kids will fit into college life without parental supervision. I know many seem to do well, but there's not much emphasis on social skills or learning how to deal with peer pressure or other stressors in life.

( kathy...on the home school issue..yep i agree that is the way for some. but the trend now is to have group sports...PE classes for home schooled kids. this gives them the social interaction and friends they need..without the classroom distractions that can bother some kids. we have such classes at our club. i do know some home schooled kids, who i would agree with you..have big time problems interacting with other kids . they tend to steer towards adults in conversations)

I haven't been SICKENED by the news in a long-long time.

Usually, I just get heart-sick. There's always warning signs that were ignored when we look back.

In Cho Seung-Hui's case, I feel like throwing up. So many warnings signs. All you have to do is look into his eyes -- he's got the "dead eyes" of a person who will commit suicide.

My heart just aches for all the victims and the heroes that were killed by Cho Seung-Hui.

I know from personal experience that you can't force a person to participate in psychotherapy

We, as a society, have GOT TO find a way to help people that are SCREAMING for help. We HAVE TO.




Another thought:

Bob Diedle (sp??) was on the news today. He's the security person that used to appear on Don Imus's show. I didn't like his image on Imus's show. He did say something today that made a lot of sense: cellphones and blackberries and other technology like that did not work right after 9-11 -- the services weren't available. What was available was low-tech pagers. A lot of colleges and universities are giving ALL of their students and faculty text pagers when they join the campus -- this gives them a way to get messages to all their students and faculty in a very efficient way.

If I had a student going to a 'split' campus (a school or college of university that is located in more than one building), I would make sure that they have a system for contacting everyone during a crisis-- a system that still works during power failures and cellphone failures.


Barb