Kids, Schools and Guns
Guns. The word itself conjures up images of bloodshed and death. Yet instead of instilling fear into people, American society has embraced guns and placed them in numerous homes under the pretence of protection. Add to that image - children. Children and guns should never have any association, yet has become somewhat commonplace because of the many incidences that involve the two.
In the age bracket of 10 to 19 years, guns are the second leading cause of deaths, after automobile accidents, in America. Of the 5751 deaths in 1993, 3661 were homicides while 1460 were suicides. One American in that age group dies every 92 minutes regardless of cause, and for every child killed, four are injured. Between 1996 and 1997, 6000 school children were expelled for bringing guns to school. (http://www.handguncontrol.org/)
In April 1999, two boys in Littleton, Colorado went on a rampage at Columbine High School where 12 students and a teacher were killed. Almost 20 other students were hurt during this incident. They turned the guns on themselves after the shooting was over. Then in May, a 15-year-old boy opened fire at Heritage High School in Conyers, Georgia injuring six students. He had taken a rifle and pistol from a cabinet of weapons in his home. (http://www.angelfire.com/wa)
In May 1998, in Springfield, Oregon, a 15-year-old, expelled from Thurston High School, returned to the school and opened fire in the cafeteria, killing two students. His parents were later found shot dead in their home, believed to have been killed by the son.
The latest shooting took place in Michigan this past February where a six-year-old boy shot dead a classmate. Kayla Rolland, 6, was shot through the neck and died later in hospital. The boy was under the care of his aunt, living in a house where guns were within reach, and drugs were traded for stolen weapons. The six-year-old, suspended from school three times prior to the shooting, once for stabbing a student with a pencil, got the loaded gun from under some blankets on a bed at the house in which he was living.
One might imagine that after all these unnecessary deaths, gun laws would be revised to ensure guns are kept out of the hands of children. In America, the Brady Law states that anyone under 21 cannot legally purchase handguns from licensed dealers. There is, however, a loophole whereby 18 to 21-year-olds can purchase handguns from private or unlicensed dealers.
Lao-Tzu believes in love and trust for the leader whereas Machiavelli strongly believes in fear from the leader. These views are almost complete opposites when paying attention to basics but the more you pay attention there are some similarities to be found, the main one being that they both believe that if the leader is hated then they government will struggle and possibly even fail. These views are almost complete opposites when paying attention to basics but the more you pay attention there are some similarities to be found, the main one being that they both believe that if the leader is hated then they government will struggle and possibly even fail. Another thing that you would be able to compare is that they both genuinely wanted what was best for their people under rule even though their views were complete opposites. Machiavelli said, “It is much safer to be feared than to be loved when one of the two must be lacking,” written in Machiavelli 's Ironic View of History by Salvatore. As far as their views contrast though, it was a very clear and direct that the way they looked at the government was nothing alike. You have one that believes that the only way to rule is to be loved then on the other had you have someone saying that the best kind of ruler is one that is feared, and that being loved isn 't relevant in this case. Lao-Tzu views this way of the government because he feels that if the people are on his side about things, than always fighting against him. Machiavelli though, is more intense on the idea of decision making and thinks that a ruler has to be ruthless no matter what the case, and is willing to make the best decision even if it isn 't the popular
The topic where Machiavelli and Lao-Tzu’s views do not coincide is war, it’s where Machiavelli believes that “knowing” war is insanely important and essential to becoming a leader whereas Lao-Tzu believes war is a sad, unvictorious thing that is only
In conclusion, the current macroeconomic situation in the United States is characterized by moderate growth because of better economic conditions that were brought by the events of 2013. The country has experienced moderate economic growth since the 2008 global recession but has shown real signs of momentum. While the country is not concerned about recession or inflation, the rate of unemployment is still a major challenge despite improved consumer and business confidence. As a result, the Federal Open Market Committee or Federal Reserve System needs to adopt fiscal and monetary policy initiatives that help address the unemployment issue and promote high economic growth.
Most people believe that everything happens for a reason, but on April 20, 1999 people began to question their beliefs. The crime that occurred on that horrific day was said to be the worst high school shooting in U.S history. 13 people were killed, one of them being a teacher, and more than 20 were injured. It wasn’t long before two more people were added to list of the deceased when the killers turned their guns and committed suicide.
On April 16th, 2007 Cho had created one of the most deadly school shootings in America. ( "Virginia Tech Shootings Fast Facts." CNN.) It was unfathomable to think that in the close future, America would encounter many more detrimental school shootings. This is including the shooting of elementary students in Newtown, CT where Adam Lanza had shot and killed 27 children and faculty. Lanza had been known to have significant health issues that had kept him from living a normal life. (Sanchez, Ray, Chelsea J. Carter in Atlanta, Yon Pomrenze in New York, and The CNN New York Bureau Staff. ) Both of these shooters had killed themselves shortly after their attacks. School violence has become a nation-wide issue.
McNamara, T. P. and Holbrook, J. B. 2003. Semantic Memory and Priming. Handbook of Psychology. 445–474.
Machiavelli believes that a government should be very structured, controlled, and powerful. He makes it known that the only priorities of a prince are war, the institutions, and discipline. His writings describes how it is more important for a prince to be practical than moral. This is shown where he writes, "in order to maintain the state he is often obliged to act against his promise, against charity, against humanity, and against religion" (47). In addition, Machiavelli argues that a prince may have to be cunning and deceitful in order to maintain political power. He takes the stance that it is better for the prince to be feared than loved. His view of how a government should run and his unethical conduct are both early signs of dictatorship.
In the wake of all the school shootings in the past fifteen years gun control has become a more serious issue than before. Gun control has always been a concern in the United States, but not until the first major school shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado did this topic become a reality to the American public. In 1999, this massacre left fifteen people dead including the assassins. And just recently on March 5, 2001 did the tradition continue, when Charles Andrew Williams killed two classmates, leaving many injured in Santee California.
Treisman, A. (1964). Monitoring and storage of irrelevant messages in selective attention. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour, 3(6): 449-459.
This essay is going to talk about one of the deadliest school shootings that killed 13 students and injured several. On April 20, 1999 two teens went on a shooting spree killing 13 and wounded several more before turning the guns on to them killing themselves. The columbine shooting one of the worst shootings in U.S history raised a debate on the gun control and school safety. This essay is going to bring out the real cause of the shooters actions and apply two juvenile delinquency theories to them.
There are many different types of school violence. The one that gets the most public attention is school shootings. The term school shooting is basically defined as an act where a student, school staff member, or intruder from the outside commits an act on the school campus. One of the most well known school shootings took place at Columbine High School near Littleton, Colorado. On a Tuesday April 20,1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, students at Columbine High School, took the lives of thirteen other students before taking the lives of their own. When we think of events like this, we have many questions that go through our mind. Thoughts like why did this happen, could it have been prevented, and how did impact the individuals involved just to name a few. There are probably several more thoughts that go through the minds of a nation when we hear about traumatic evens such as a school shooting.
The death penalty has been around for centuries. It dates back to when Hammurabi had his laws codified; it was “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”. Capital punishment in America started when spies were caught, put on trial and hung. In the past and still today people argue that, the death penalty is cruel, unusual punishment and should be illegal. Yet many people argue that it is in fact justifiable and it is not cruel and unusual. Capital punishment is not cruel and unusual; the death penalty is fair and there is evidence that the death penalty deters crime.
“More then 30,000 people are killed by firearms each year in this country”(USA Gun Violence Statistics). Because of the U.S. Government allows U.S. citizens to buy firearms more than 30,000 people are killed each year (USA Gun Violence Statistics). The rate of people dying each year by guns is about to pass the number of deaths by car. Guns are very dangerous and if the legal age of having a gun is 21, then why is it so many teenagers have one. On average, mass shootings occur every two weeks and school shootings occur once a month (CNN). Statistics show that people are mimicking some of the mass shootings that there has been, for example theater shootings have been more and more frequent (CNN). If guns cause such a problem then why are they still legal in the United States? Aside from homicide people use guns for suicide. 15 through 21 years old is the age where suicide is more common then any other ages. Teens should not be able to have access to a gun like so many do.
The use of illegal drugs in the United States is considered by some to be the biggest problem in our society. Over 40% of high school seniors use some kind of illegal drug, and in a recent 1999 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse showed that the three most common drugs are Marijuana used by 11,100,000 people, Cocaine used by 1,500,000 people, and inhalants that is used by 991,000 people nationwide.
Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard, introduced his theory of multiple intelligences in 1983. Multiple intelligence’s is a theory about the brain that says human beings are born with single intelligence that cannot be changed, and is measurable by a psychologist. Gardner believes that there are eight different intelligences in humans. The eight are verbal linguistic, visual spatial, bodily kinesthetic, mathematical logic, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist. Understanding these intelligence’s will help us to design our classroom and curriculum in a way that will appeal to all of our students. We might also be able to curve discipline problems by reaching a student in a different way. One that will make more sense to them and more enjoyable. We can include all of the intelligences in lessons to accommodate all of the students’ different learning styles at once. By reaching each students intelligence we can assume that a student will perform better which, could mean students retaining more important information. A students learning style can also help lead them into a more appropriate career direction. As a teacher you can also learn your own personal learning style or intelligence to help improve the way you learn and teach.