Topic : 10/12 Homecoming Shooting

The teachers and doctors are so fast to put 3rd graders on meds so they can sedate the anxious children while teaching the others.  Then  when they begin to show effects of the meds, parents are told that their children have mental problems.

 

I guess this falls under, what goes around comes around.  It might make things easier in elementary schools, but then there is a much bigger price to pay in middle and high school for both the students, parents and school staff.

Dr. Phil did not mention gun control because he knows that is not the answer to anything. Besides as he has mentioned many times he is from Texas and it is one of the states that  (thank goodness) has a right to carry law. Every state that has allowed their citizens to get a concealed weapon permit so that men and women can carry their guns with them at all times has seen a drop in crime. You need to "get real". We are given by our constitution the right to have our guns. And taking away everyone's gun because some kid with a grudge loses it a school will not cure that problem. There is a solution to it somewhere, but it lies more with parents and teachers working together to develop plans for their schools so that kids with problems can talk to somebody and other kids can report a kid with a problem with the assurance that it is is total anonymity.

 After listening to most of the show I would love Dr Phil to find out if any of the 22 shootings this year were carried out by young people who suffer from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (including FAS and FAE or ARND).  This is callled the invisible disability and is 100% preventable.  These kids have many of the  problems they were mentioning such as aggression, lying, feeling persecuted, poor judgement, impulsiveness, unable to cope with life. Huge percentages of them end up in the criminal system and many commit suicide.

This is definately somewhere we should look to see if these kids are the kinds of kids that are carrying out these acts.  If so we can pay attention  to the signs and how to help before it gets to these  terrible  situations.

A great source of information is the site

www.FASlink.org
I think it is a Canadian site but it has very disturbing and interesting information on it.  Even if they find that FAS is not relevent in this case I think that Dr Phil should definitely do a show on that.

Kids at school can be very ugly to other kids.  I was popular in school but was bullied by other students and even teachers.  There were some very hurtful times throughout grade school and high school in the rural area I grew up in North Dakota.  

 

Raising my stepson here in a upper middle class area of Colorado, I remember one morning when I went to hug him goodbye as he was going out the door to the bus to middle school.  I felt something odd on his chest and asked him about it -- he was wearing bandaids on his nipples because kids on the bus were twisting them until they bled!  A few days later I received a call from his school because the bus driver said my stepson was causing problems on the bus -- I took the opportunity to say I was not surprised and filled them in on the problems I knew were happening on the bus; they backed off. 

 

There were also problems at the bus stop from bullies.  One time an older neighbor kid attacked him.    When my husband and I spoke to his single parent, his Dad, about having a get together to discuss the problem; his son refused and his Dad didn't push it.  Come to find out, this boy had been moved from school to school due to similar bullying.  Later we learned he moved on to another school (and another set of fresh victims).  

 

I don't know what we can do about the bullying during school time but I fear it is a major problem why kids go bad.  Hurtful remarks, teasing, and even violence are easy to do in the hallways, lockerrooms, on the playground, in the cafeteria and parking lots -- everywhere! 

 

My girlfriend's daughter was in Columbine when it happened.  She hid with others and were some of the last to get out of the school.

 

She had to walk over the dead bodies to get out.  She was 17 years old.

 

Almost all of the children who were in the school have a lot of mental problems.  When she went off to college in Boulder, there was no special counseling for her.  She suffers from anxiety attacks and had to quite college.

 

Whenever she gets a job and applies for mental health support, she has been told that because she attended Columbine, they will not cover her.  She has a lot of expenses between medications and counseling.

 

These children have been swept under the rug, but they are out there with major mental health problems.  Multiply this by every child in every school that has had a school shooting and maybe you will be able to see that the future looks worse rather than better.

 

If no one cares enough to help those who have suffered, we might as well get used to these situations happening as often as car chases in Los Angeles.

My husband and I watched your show today  in shear horror.  We don't have children of our own but I do have a niece in the Jr-Sr High School levels (she is taking Honors Classes) and I have two nephews who are each in pre-K programs.  Having said that, it sadens me to think that kids today have to worry more about whether or not violence may erupt at school while preparing and trying their best academically.

 Let's face it, kids today are looking at violent images constantly in the media.  A lot of the video games they play are somehow or another related to some type of violence.  Today, it would be easier for me to get a gun than it would be to get cell phone service.

In my senior year of High School, in 1982, I was suspended for a day for insubordination.  I don't deny what I did was wrong, this was an issue that I had been having a problem with this particular teacher for the whole time I was in his class.  As I was answering the questions that the vice-principal was filling out the paperwork regarding my suspension I remember very clearly being told that if I was seen on or near school property for that day, I would be arrested for trespassing.  In my young mind I thought for a split second about getting on theI bus that next day and just going about my business - until the threat of being arrested was made.

This brings up in my mind, was this kid ever told that (the 14-year-old)?  Was anyone on the staff even notified that this child should not have been near the school that day?  Does that even apply anymore? After watching this show, on the news the story became even more bizzare because the mother was arrested for buying all sorts of weapons for her son.  My question is why?  How could a parent do that and think that it was a good thing to do.

As far as the 20-year-old "police officer", was there any psychological profile done on this kid before letting him on the police force?  I know of someone much older than this kid who was turnd down by different police departments, several times based on his psychological profile to be on any police force.  So this kid was allowed to join the police force without such tests being done?  That just makes absolutely no sense to me. 

My dad was a New York City Police Officer/Detective for many years before retiring.  He told me that there were numerous tests that he had to go through before they would think of handing him a gun.

It just doesn't seem right that here we are in the 21st Century and we are faced with these issues.  I have not yet spoken to my sister since these shootings but I know if I were a parent, I would have a lot of concern that something "could or might happen". 

Yet, where do we place the blame and really, what is the solution?  Unfortunately, I don't think your show today  covered more what needs to be openly discussed.  I also think the students should start speaking up about it with the teachers, with the PTAs, with the communities to try to prevent these issues so that we God-willing don't have any more tragedies such as these.

Thank you for allowing me to express my opinion.  I watch the Dr. Phil show on a pretty regular basis and I commend you and your staf for all that you do go through to get people help and to heal commnities as well as individuals.

JoAnn M. Nickerson
Columbia, SC

That is really sad that you feel that way.  If the schools are so full with "Special Ed students" what does that say about our society?  Your comment is hard for a parent of a child who is ED, I would expect you as a educator to have a little more compassion.  I'm sure you would if the child was diagnosed with cancer.  Your feelings are why there is such a break down between parents and teachers.

I live in central ohio...our local news has stated that the 14 yr old shooter was home schooled for a while...and that in his room he had hand grandes and a assult rifle...and his MOM bought the assult rifle for him..which is against the law..

The law is now CONSIDERING pressing charges against her..and they should...what kind of person would buy a KID such a weapon.

As in most of these sad situations the first thing i thinks about is where are the parents..are they blind and deaf..

There is another story going on too...hasn't made the news..but about 12 kids/girls jumped another beat her pretty bad..had her on her hands and knees begging not to be hit in the head with the rock.This happend on a very busy street in Circleville...and not 1 person stopped to help or call the police.

It time for parents to wake up take back control of their kids...don't let the kids bully YOU into thinking childrens services will come..they might come..but unless your really are abusing the kids its not going to hold water...Just telling your kids what to do or not to do is not abuse...not letting they run the streets etc is not abuse...

 

WAKE UP AMERICA

I wrote earlier my comments of your show and now I want to say something about "gun control".  It is true that guns in the wrong hands is a major problem, however, with or without gun registration and gun familiarization courses as have been instituted,  we have still seen a rise in guns in the hands of children and adults, that should not have them.  This can only be corrected by instruction in their use and a change in how gun use is promoted on television and in the movies.

 

I was raised around guns.  My father did not hide his guns.  There were no less than (8) loaded rifles hanging on the wall in our den and we knew where each and every handgun was stored from a very early age.  My father was a police officer and an avid hunter.  He took the right approach, I believe, in teaching us, his four children, on "respect" of guns and the purpose for which they were intended. As a means of protection and a means of aquiring food.  Believe me, I had my fair share of venison, rabbit and squirrel as a child.  When I was age 6, he took us all out to an area in the forest to shoot a .22 rifle for the first time.  I had already been taught to respect guns and now it was time for me to know why.  When I felt the power of this weapon at that young age you can bet your bottom dollar it concreted all that he had taught me about them.  So much so, I used the same teaching method that my father used and when my daughter turned 6 I took her to remote area and had her shoot a gun for the first time.  She, too, just like me was taught rightly and respects them. 

 

Guns have been around for a very long time.  They've not changed, people have.  Go back to the teaching to respect "life" and they would respect and handle guns rightly.  Go back to the time when man respected "life" and you would see a decrease in the misuse of guns.  In order to do that....the foundation for which this country  was founded , restore honor and trust in God, and you WOULD SEE changed hearts and minds of children and adults.

You gotta be giving me the mick, right, re Phil talking more sense than any man you know - ye gods, things are bad in the UK if you need a bombastic, paternalistic, hypocrite to guide you!  I didn't watch his entire broadcast today & in fact changed the station repeatedly due to irritation that Phil (raised in Oklahoma & Texas, US homes of many of the most dedicated "gunslingers") seemed to give virtually no time to the American gun availabilty issue, which is WITHOUT a DOUBT, the main reason we have such a huge homicide rate in the states.  As long as  the gun lobby has our politicians in its (very deep) pockets, we can sadly expect more shooting violence.  However, the first case discussed, with the underaged deputy sheriff, is an anomaly in that the shooter was legitimately entitled to bear arms - as noted, his family & the law enforcement screening process probably share at least some of the responsibility for these tragic deaths.  My own 18 yr old was career researching recently & I directed him away from certain professions (such as health care) where I feel his current immaturity, carelessness, & rather volatile nature could result in danger to himself or others.