First of all, let me say that there's no reason any person should kill another in anger.  As you read this, keep that thought in mind.

High school shootings are not a problem about guns - they're a problem about cliques.  Solve the clique problem, and the high school shootings will go away - even if the guns stayed.

Cliques are an integral part of the life of a high school student today.   Who your friends are, and how well accepted you are is an important part of education.  It is another product of the selfish, individualistic nature that plagues our society.

Let me ask everyone here something - two businessmen - both extremely successful - go to a local high school.  Both lecture on the same subject.  One businessman dresses in a business suit and a tie.  One businessman dresses in a T-shirt and blue jeans.  Which one will the kids listen to?  They'll listen to the one in the T-shirt and blue jeans - because he's perceived to be more like them.   Furthermore, let's say the businessman in the T-shirt and blue jeans is a well-known, well-respected member of the community.  He ALWAYS dresses in a T-shirt and blue jeans, and the kids are aware of this fact.  Does that add to or diminish his credibility with them?  It makes him MORE like them, and therefore adds to his credibility.

Our problem is that fashion is king in our schools.  Dress like me, and you're more like me.  Do what I do, and I have more respect for you.  Talk the way I talk, and you're more likely to fit in with me.

We must break apart these cliques.  Kids are susceptible to peer pressure, and with the emergence of these permanent castes of children, we encounter the problems at a time in lives where the understanding of responsibility is limited.  So the question is how do we break apart these cliques?

First of all, we cannot have schools without teachers.  We must be more selective as to who we will allow to teach our children.  Our teachers must be leadership material - a person who commands the respect of the children.  The teachers must adhere to a simple principle - ONE community of students within the classroom and within the school.  Promoting class unity rather than allowing cliques to form will fix many of the problems - including racism and sexism.  The reason our teachers need leadership skills is because of the individual needs of children.  One size does not fit all, so we'd better have leaders who are flexible enough to adjust when needed.

Of course, if we're going to get real teachers, we have to pay them real wages.  We're also going to have to give them real authority in their classrooms.   Education, under my methods, is going to be a lot more expensive.

Classwork must also change.  Classwork needs to start with math and science, along with grammar.  Math and science are universals - and getting to a right answer is important.  Interpretation, while admirable especially in the process of teaching creative thinking, is not the way to teach young children.  There needs to be imparted the difference between "right" and "wrong."  Many of today's high school students can debate the validity of their answers with their teacher - often resulting in a better grade.  This trend is continuing down to lower and lower grades.  We must reverse this trend.  There *IS* such a thing as a wrong answer.  We need to solidify a "frame of reference" for the children.

We must identify young children with leadership skills, and encourage the development of these skills in ALL children, but especially the children with the seeming innate leadership skills.  If we can shape the future leaders of the students to be more responsible, then we can shape the children to be more responsible - using peer pressure as an ally rather than an enemy.  We must also use the older children to teach and mentor the younger children.  Likewise, it is necessary to keep a steady stream of teachers coming in to the schools - avoiding the idea of schools with easily out-witted old teachers who think they've seen every trick in the book.

School "fashion shows" must stop - especially in elementary school.  I have friends whose attitudes, and as a result, grades, were affected because of being "fashion outcasts" for a time.  When the fashion changes were made to allow them to fit in with the other students, grades improved.   Self-esteem is very fragile in children - we must stop the brand name idea for school clothing.  While I stop short of advocating uniforms, I do believe that we've got to stop kids from being brand-conscious.  A simple "dress code" for schools - "shirt or blouse, some sort of denim jeans, tennis shoes" - should be given to the students, and more importantly, to the parents.

We must eliminate classes which encourage divisiveness.  Among these, I include anything that includes words like "for men," "women's," and "African-American."  If it is valid for some students, it is valid for all, and we need to include it as part of the core curriculum, rather than allowing it to be a dividing line.

We must keep the students in class, rather than allow them to wander hallways, skip school, or go on countless field trips, especially at young ages.

Rules and punishments for breaking the rules must be established and adhered to.  The punishments must be administered quickly and leaving no doubt for why the punishment was administered.  We cannot allow our schools to permit students to cause chaos and anarchy.  Parents who enroll their children in school must allow the schools to administer punishment to their children who misbehave - without prior parent approval.

If you can solve the clique problem, you can solve a number of school problems all at once.  Children are going to be social, and they are going to socialize, and this should be encouraged.  However, we cannot allow cliques to form.   Adept administrators can make changes to avoid this - if given the ability.

With cliques comes peer pressure.  With peer pressure, children without leadership skills can dominate those with leadership skills.  We must have peer pressure working on our side rather than working against us, and it must be confined to things which are productive.  Good grades can be a form of peer pressure - so can bad grades.  We MUST make sure that we use peer pressure wisely and not allow "anti-cliques" to form.

Have you noticed how many school shootings have been done by "outcasts?"  This immediately should identify the problem.  Were it not guns, it would be knives.  Were it not knives, it'd be chains.  Were it not chains, it'd be rocks.  Were it not rocks, it'd be poison.  Anything that can be used as a weapon works.  The problem with guns is that there is less risk to the person using the gun.  Were you to throw rocks at people, people might throw them back.  Were you to try to use strength, you might be overcome.  Guns offer few "get-evens" to the other people, but guns aren't the problem.  Being outcast in a culture of violence is the problem.

We have to get people to stop WANTING to use guns on other people.   You see, the problem is that kids kill because they think that there's a reason for it - they feel the other people deserve it.  We have to figure out WHY the kids feel other people deserve it.  It often seems to be because the shooter was an outcast.   Stop the cliques, and you stop the killing.

The "Trench Coat Mafia" of Columbine tells us one thing more than any other - the cliques of kids are starting to become more open and more dangerous.   Next time, it may be the "preps" or the "jocks" or the "druggies" who does the killing.  While I certainly don't agree with some of the supposed ideals of the "Trench Coat Mafia," ask yourself this:  was it only the Trench Coat Mafia kids who were capable of killing?  Or could a popular young "prep" girl be so humiliated by a practical joke played on her by a group like the Trench Coat Mafia that she would kill them in revenge over the embarassment?   Could she become an outcast from the preps and want revenge on those who caused it?   To me, that is the scariest realization of all.

We've got to start, and we've got to start young, before the next generation of kids becomes rubber-stamped into the life-wrecking world of cliques.

This page last updated11/13/2006 .