A possible answer to school shootings

Of course, nothing justifies the Santa Fe, Texas, tragedy, and no one thing explains what caused an apparently bright young man to make the choice he did. But what could possibly explain it but his perceived mistreatment?

Perhaps it is how the personal troubles and perceptions of adolescents can be addressed in our massive schools, where there is little opportunity to be observed, understood and mentored. These young people are numbers in our huge corporate-style school system. We lose them in the business of public education and effective administration of the masses. We persecute them with the tyranny of policy and law because the reality is that there is no room to address individuals. Maybe there is a lack of humanity in how we influence the attitudes and behavior of our young people, and it manifests in troubling (sometimes disastrous) behavior. There are many answers. Treating young people — especially young men — as inhuman machines is a significant one.

Randy Gibbons

League City, Texas