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SCHOOL
VIOLENCE: A Critical Perspective
Senseless acts of violence
are devastating and shocking, even more so when
committed by children and teens. We ask, �How could this happen?�
The dangers of psychiatric drugs and psychological programs in schools demand
examination.
Seven out of
12 U.S. school shootings were committed by
teens taking prescribed psychotropic drugs known to cause
violent and suicidal behavior.
At least five
teens responsible for school massacres had undergone
�anger management� or other psychological behavior modification programs such
as �death education.� Anger management aims at curbing aggressive
or violent behavior. No data exists to prove
it has any positive effect.
For decades,
schools around the world have taught �death education,�
a psychological experiment in which children are made to discuss suicide and
what they would like placed on their coffins, and write their own epitaphs�to
�get kids more comfortable with death.�
Columbine, Colorado high
school shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold are prime examples of the failure
of �anger management� and �death education.� Harris was also taking an antidepressant
that can cause violent mania. He and Klebold had
attended courtordered psychological counseling, including
�anger management.� As part of a school �death education� program Harris was
told to imagine his own death. He later dreamt that he and Klebold went on a
shooting rampage in a shopping center. After turning the story of the dream
in to his teacher, Harris and Klebold acted it out by killing
12 students and a teacher, before shooting themselves.
In February 2004, 15-year-old Andreas of Germany
shot and killed his foster father. He had been undergoing psychiatric
treatment for years and was taking prescribed psychotropic
drugs.
On May 17, 2004, 19-year-old Ryan Furlough of Maryland was convicted
of the 2001 first-degree murder of a school
friend. Ryan was taking several prescribed antidepressants
at the time of the killing.
In Japan, a
14-year-old beheaded his 11-year- old friend,
while another teen stabbed an elderly neighbor
to death because he wanted to experience killing someone.
A dramatic increase in school violence has
also been reported in Canada, Israel and France.
The combination of psychological value systems
with violence-inducing psychiatric drugs is a powder keg waiting for a spark.
Psychiatric drugs and psychological practices have been behind the rising violence
in U.S. high schools, such as the shootings at Columbine in 1999.
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