It's interesting to notice the not particularly subtle anti-youth bias in the FBI's recently released profiles of people they allege are likely to commit violence in schools. Indeed, the terms used are very negative and propagandistic ways of characterizing practically anyone who isn't carefully controlled in thinking and behavior, denied free access to information, and trained to be an obedient doormat for all authority figures. It would be very difficult for any student to not fit some of the factors listed, unless he were the world's greatest Uncle Tom and kissed Massah's ass on a regular basis while ignoring the screams of his fellow inmates while pretending to enjoy the public school experience. Let's look at how the FBI's factors might be expressed in more conventional language. "Student collects injustices and nurses resentments" - Student has reasonable expectations that he and other students will be treated decently, and remembers the names of teachers and administrators who have a long track record of showing disrespect and contempt for students. "Shows exaggerated sense of entitlement" - Expects the school system and those who work there to be held accountable for the quality of service provided. "Signs of depression and a pathological need for attention" - Becomes unhappy when he and other students are treated unjustly, and seeks to find someone who will listen and remedy the situation. "Student's relationship with parents is particularly difficult or turbulent" - Student has high standards for how he is treated at home too. "Parents accept or minimize pathological behavior, setting few limits and possibly seeming intimidated by student" - Parents don't automatically take the side of the school against their child when a disagreement arises. "Student has access to weapons and there is little monitoring of what he watches on TV or the Internet" - The child's home environment is one where privacy, freedom of information, and the Second Amendment are all respected. "Student is detached from other students, teachers, and school activities" - Student has better things to do with his time, than spend 100% of it on school-sponsored busy work. "School does little to prevent or punish disrespectful behavior or bullying" - School does not interfere in student socialization unless an obviously serious problem arises. "A pecking order exists among students, who also observe a code of silence about telling staff of their concerns about other students" - Students refuse to cooperate in ratting out people to the school's profiling program. "Access to computers and the Internet is unsupervised" - The School follows the guidelines of the American Library Association. "Student is intensely and exclusively involved with a group that shares a fascination with violence and extremist beliefs" - Student refuses to criticize Columbine shooters in school-ordered classroom writing assignment, given with the ulterior motive of prying into student's political beliefs. Indeed, the wording of most of these things is exactly like what spews out of the mouth of the typical public school teacher, when a student or the parent of a student has a grievance with the school. Complaining about anything is "attention seeking," getting pissed off is "nursing resentments," the parent defending the child is "the child running the home and no limits being set," etc,etc,etc... The whole attitude expressed by the government here is a really great argument for private schooling or homeschooling. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division "Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
