Columbine
By Dave Cullen
KEY POINTS & CONNECTION TO ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS-
Essential Questions-
Key Points & Connections-
Essential Questions-
- WHY is there so much gun violence in the United States?
- WHAT can we do to dramatically reduce the amount of gun violence in the US?
Key Points & Connections-
- There are endless possible answers to our two essential questions, but after reading Columbine, I learned that three of the major reasons are the fact that the mental healthcare system in the United States is very weak. Scientists and psychologists believed that Eric Harris, one of the two killers, was a sociopath; however, it was not until years after the Columbine Massacre that psychologists officially "made a list" of all of the red flags that determine whether someone truly is a sociopath. That means that even if someone had noticed all of these factors and qualities in Eric, they would not have known or been able to connect that to the fact he was indeed a sociopath.
- The way that schools ( high schools to be exact) all over America are set up and run, in my opinion, provide a fairly hostile environment that does not let students grow as individuals or truly get to connect with others or what they are learning. I think that because a lot of high schools are so big, students do not get to interact with as many people as they would at a smaller school, and that means that they would as a result have less people who care about them at school. School counselors do not get to connect with you on a deeper level because they have so many students. Also, there would be less people who actually notice or care if something is wrong or upsetting you, which means that someone could potentially feel more alone causing them to become more violent.
- Dylan Klebold, one of the two killers, was having suicidal thoughts since way before they decided to carry our this huge execution plan. All of the issues with his love life, school, friends, home life, everything was a major factor to these thoughts. Dylan was already planning on killing himself when the two boys came up with a plan to try to kill another thousand people before they killed themselves. Suicide is a serious issue and a major contributor to the amount of gun violence in the United States. That is why I think that there should be a lot more guidance counselors in schools; it would be a good way to make sure that all of the kids have someone to talk to and maybe get help from if they are having these thoughts.