I was thinking about Columbine

[Gilhelmi]

This is a sensitive subject so if you post please be respectful.

For those of you who do not live in America or are to young to remember here is a link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre

I have been thinking about High School lately seeing as I am quickly coming up to my 10 year anniversary of graduating, and I was thinking "My life got easier after that day" (I felt bad for even thinking it). On another day, I was speaking to a friend (who was not my friend in high school) and he mentioned that after that day people were a bit scared of me and watched me closer.

I can honestly say, I never thought of killing anyone in high school. I do not even like the thought of killing, and I feel bad that people were scared of me but at the same time my life did get easier as no one taunted or teased me anymore (and when they did the teachers were on them but it was like that before the shooting).

So my question to you is how was your high school or junior high school experience before and after that bad day back in 1999.

 

[quiet_samurai]

We started having drills and evacuation plans that involved taking the screens out of windows and jumping out. Other then that noting raelly changed, except threats were taken ALOT more seriously.

 

[jonnosferatu]

My HS/MS was afterward, but my experience with Virginia Tech was ultimately that a bunch of people made tremendously tactless comments. Honestly, having someone I didn't particularly like say straight up "Jon, please don't ever bring a gun to school," probably ramped up the chances of my doing it and shooting her first.

...'course, I then proceeded to completely turn my life around over the summer and felt a hell of a lot better about myself in general, which obviated that risk, but seriously, WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU SAY THAT.

 

[hightide]

The same, really, with all the people that go to school and all the guns I'm surprised school shootings don't happen more often. However, I went to a more rural school and things like that don't really happen/ you don't think it will happen in a rural setting.

I was at college when the Virginia Tech shooting and TV crews where at my college interviewing people about dorm safety, and to be honest, most suggestions were stupid. For about the same chance of getting killed by lighting, the reaction was way too much. I don't want to carry a fist full of IDs just to get around school, and worse, you can either have full safety in the dorms, or be able to let your friends in, I don't see how there could be both.

 

[EnzoHonda]

Basically the only thing that changed in our school was that no one was allowed to wear their trench-coats anymore (there were a few goth people that got pissed). I was in a smallish Canadian high school, though, so it never felt like a "it could happen to us" situation. There have been school shootings in Canada, but it's not on our society's consciousness so much.

 

[Gilhelmi]

My HS/MS was afterward, but my experience with Virginia Tech was ultimately that a bunch of people made tremendously tactless comments. Honestly, having someone I didn't particularly like say straight up "Jon, please don't ever bring a gun to school," probably ramped up the chances of my doing it and shooting her first.

...'course, I then proceeded to completely turn my life around over the summer and felt a hell of a lot better about myself in general, which obviated that risk, but seriously, WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU SAY THAT.

In the army, we are told to ask "Are you thinking of hurting yourself?". So I understand why someone would say that, however I would have been more tactful than saying it so bluntly.

 

[Irridium]

Well, I once drew a picture of stick figures shooting each other. When a teacher saw I was sent to counseling, watched, parents contacted, ect. Basically they don't fuck around anymore. And this was in 2008.

And when they see you playing any type of game, they crack down on that shit faster than a fat kid on a cupcake.

Also, one of my friends once claimed he would "shoot up the school"

They kept him under severe watch, and when he came back to school, one of my other friends basically got to be his "bodyguard" and was authorized to use force if anyone physically provoked my friend who made the threat.

On the last few days of school they hacked the computers and they and a few others played Quake 3. I found that funny as hell.

Basically, these days they don't fuck around when you make a threat.

 

[Heart of Darkness]

I'm not going to talk about my high school and middle school experience after this, seeing as I was in elementary school at the time. I will say this, however:

My cousin was involved with this incident. And she was incredibly lucky to survive.

Had the gunsmen actually succeed, the parking lot and cafeteria would have also exploded in addition to the shootout, claiming exponentially more victims than the number that was claimed that day.

My cousin survived by hiding in a supply closet, and she watched as one of her teachers was shot and killed in front of her eyes.

Either way, I'm still sensitive to this subject (although admittedly, living two timezones away from my cousin doesn't mean I get to see her that much or know her all too well), and I'm still confused as to why you brought it up. Your life got easier at the expense of those who died in the shooting? Why make a topic about this in the first place? It seems disrespectful at best.

 

[presidentjlh]

Well, I once drew a picture of stick figures shooting each other. When a teacher saw I was sent to counseling, watched, parents contacted, ect. Basically they don't fuck around anymore. And this was in 2008.

Prime example of schools doing it wrong.

I used to doodle war scenes all time when I was in elementary and middle school. I made some empty threats to people, but nothing more.

I feel for the schools, they don't want anyone getting hurt, but I honestly think that if someone seriously is considering going on a shooting spree and decides to do it, nothing will stop them.

Except for that math teacher from Colorado today. Dude is a freaking hero.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100225/ap_on_re_us/us_colo_school_shooting

 

[arsenicCatnip]

I went to middle school not too far from Columbine, and I still remember the day of the shootings.

Even now, it's a hugely sensitive subject and it's made things... different. The schools here have metal detectors now. Teachers are trained to notice things like self-destructive tendencies (which made my life a hell of a lot harder in high school).

 

[historybuff]

Threats were taken more seriously but it didn't stop popular, obnoxious kids from picking on/teasing nerdy/weird/less popular people.

 

[arsenicCatnip]

Well, I once drew a picture of stick figures shooting each other. When a teacher saw I was sent to counseling, watched, parents contacted, ect. Basically they don't fuck around anymore. And this was in 2008.

Prime example of schools doing it wrong.

I used to doodle war scenes all time when I was in elementary and middle school. I made some empty threats to people, but nothing more.

I feel for the schools, they don't want anyone getting hurt, but I honestly think that if someone seriously is considering going on a shooting spree and decide to do it, nothing will stop them.

Except for that math teacher from Colorado today. Dude is a freaking hero.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100225/ap_on_re_us/us_colo_school_shooting

Jesus mercy. I hadn't heard about that yet... And it was in Jeffco too.

Oh good god.

 

[Aerodynamic]

I was like 4 back then, So I still didn't start kindergarten yet.

When I got into like the 2nd grade I suffered from bullying until middle school, don't know what made it stop, but I am sure damn relieved it did.

 

[presidentjlh]

Well, I once drew a picture of stick figures shooting each other. When a teacher saw I was sent to counseling, watched, parents contacted, ect. Basically they don't fuck around anymore. And this was in 2008.

Prime example of schools doing it wrong.

I used to doodle war scenes all time when I was in elementary and middle school. I made some empty threats to people, but nothing more.

I feel for the schools, they don't want anyone getting hurt, but I honestly think that if someone seriously is considering going on a shooting spree and decide to do it, nothing will stop them.

Except for that math teacher from Colorado today. Dude is a freaking hero.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100225/ap_on_re_us/us_colo_school_shooting

Jesus mercy. I hadn't heard about that yet... And it was in Jeffco too.

Oh good god.

Yeah, it's sad that some kids got hurt, but it ended more happily than most of these shootings: No one died, gunman got stopped, hero teacher saved day

 

[j0frenzy]

I wasn't in high school until after Columbine, but I was part of one of the nicest school environments ever. Well, mostly. I became a sort of hero because I yelled at some asshole who started calling me a fag because I was wearing a pink top hat (longish story). But, one brief moment of one day of high school putting up with an ignorant fuck does not compare to four good years of people not being assholes over trivial shit like what I do for fun. It was nice.
(PS My high school had a D&D club run by a teacher that was almost exclusively filled with jocks. Weird as fuck).
I almost forgot, teachers were serious as hell. But the other students were nice.

 

[The Singularity]

My HS/MS was afterward, but my experience with Virginia Tech was ultimately that a bunch of people made tremendously tactless comments. Honestly, having someone I didn't particularly like say straight up "Jon, please don't ever bring a gun to school," probably ramped up the chances of my doing it and shooting her first.

...'course, I then proceeded to completely turn my life around over the summer and felt a hell of a lot better about myself in general, which obviated that risk, but seriously, WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU SAY THAT.

Agreed, my school thankfully has switched to separate social groups who ignore each other, with only the "retardedly smart kids" and just plain weirdos(being athletic, a hunter, a sports player, a video gamer, a heavy metal fan, homosexual, and so on get you out of this group and into your own) being made fun of. Also it makes teachers kick 8 year olds out of school who turn in air-soft guns, or pocket knives from Boyscouts brought accidently to school, teaching us the invaluable lesson of "just hide it". The schools went overboard in really the wrong way.

 

[Aerodynamic]

Well, I once drew a picture of stick figures shooting each other. When a teacher saw I was sent to counseling, watched, parents contacted, ect. Basically they don't fuck around anymore. And this was in 2008.

Prime example of schools doing it wrong.

I used to doodle war scenes all time when I was in elementary and middle school. I made some empty threats to people, but nothing more.

I feel for the schools, they don't want anyone getting hurt, but I honestly think that if someone seriously is considering going on a shooting spree and decide to do it, nothing will stop them.

Except for that math teacher from Colorado today. Dude is a freaking hero.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100225/ap_on_re_us/us_colo_school_shooting

Jesus mercy. I hadn't heard about that yet... And it was in Jeffco too.

Oh good god.

Yeah, it's sad that some kids got hurt, but it ended more happily than most of these shootings: No one died, gunman got stopped, hero teacher saved day

That man deserves a friggin medal!

 

[Beardly]

I don't remember anyone in my high school really caring about the Comumbine shooting.

9/11 was the big one for the people in my school. A Chinese exchange student got beat up because some dumbass rednecks though that China was behind the attack and people were excused up to 3 days after because they "didn't feel safe".

 

[presidentjlh]

Personally, I think that we (by which I mean the general public) should find out if that heroic teacher has any mortgages or car payments, and pay them off for him out of appreciation. It's still not enough thanks in my opinion, but it's something he definitely deserves.

 

[Delock]

As I remember it, it was actually the result of something schools should have been addressing since it was getting out of control: bullying. Not just physical torment, but psychological (especially in high school). I still don't see a lot being done about this, as people much prefer to think that those suffering from torment by their peers retaliate because they play videogames rather than the fact that they didn't do anything to stop the bullying, to help the person, or that they didn't notice something so obvious.

The reaction to it was absurd too. All it did was make social outcasts even more isolated, as well as make just about everything into a "sign" whether that be doodling war scenes/a gun or saying something when you're frustrated.