Campus violence came to Arkansas last night with a shooting at University of Central Arkansas in Conway.
We live in a society in which anger is directed toward educational institutions. We see it in vandalism at schools. We also see it at these shootings that have become a world-wide phenomenon. It would make sense to begin to question why. Are these just random events caused by minds and emotions run astray? Or is campus violence indicative of other things?
Our culture through video games, television and our own foreign policy reinforces the idea that problems are to be solved through application of force. Easy access to guns and the portrayal of guns in video and television as objects of fantasy put our whole culture at risk of violence... and our own children at risk of death and injury.
If we make the decision that school violence is just random then we have chosen our own powerlessness. If we view these events as the result of something we can control, we should be asking serious questions about what to do next.
I've worked in an inner city community college campus for almost 30 years. Never had a problem, but there's a different feel to the place these days. And I have no idea what might work as a solution to this.
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I think we need a cultural renewal. One part of the solution would be for young men to be challenged in more positive ways than by the culture of gaming and guns. I've been following Zac Sunderland's adventure, a sixteen year old kid's attempt to circumnavigate the globe solo. He is currently on his way across the Indian Ocean to Mauritius off the coast of Africa. While Zac's adventure may be beyond what most parents would encourage, there are lots of sailing programs and a year of service in something like a CCC camp would be a cheaper and more effective maturing process than a freshman year of college in which the student is goofing off with no aspirations.
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