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I'm not so pessimistic as some about kids. Kids have always been a problem. Kids have also always been fabulous. What's different today, perhaps, is a greater percentage of single parent families, and of kids with income and means to do much more than before. 50 years ago kids wouldn't have been able to afford to buy an arsenal of guns. Today they can afford cars and computers.

I deal a lot with teenage kids. Admittedly I deal with the brightest and the best. But in 25 years I have seen no difference in the high caliber of many teenagers today. All that has changed is a completely unjustified sense of pessimism on their part that the world is fucked. A message that is portrayed by politicians, the media and everybody else who has a half-remembered barely-understood statistic to peddle. Fact is, the world is an exciting and challenging place, just as it always was. There are lots of opportunities for kids today to make their mark in the future.

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And there are still lots of people who'd love to teach. But these days the best of them are seduced

Ozzie

In one report it was said that the boys told students that what they were doing was revenge for how they were treated. The reporter said that people ridiculed the boys and the micophone was then pushed into the face of a female student who said "People made fun of them..."

Payback is a bitch. It's sad and it's crazy but maybe one of those reporters camped out in the driveways of those two kid's homes can pull themselves away from there and track down a few of the students who couldn't resist giving these guys crap all the time. Maybe they could ask THEIR parents how they feel about what THEIR kid did to contribute to what ended in a bloody massacre.

Robert E.

We can be a little more bold about what we don't expose ourselves and children to, I think, without lessening our genuine freedoms.

I, for one, think the mesmerizing of children with violent video games, inane pastimes such as MTV (or just TV), hanging out in shopping malls, surfing the net for hours on end to God knows where, purchasing guns with ease, making bombs and engaging in racist and hateful speech and actions - all need attention from parents (primarily), teachers, counselors, friends and peers, family, clergy, neighbors.

I don't think this is of necessity intrusive, it's as liberal a thought as that child-rearing requires a "village" --but the village is asleep while the kids are being relegated to electronic babysitting. There is no family anymore.

I can't conceive of how we can expect kids to grow up when parents, as an ensemble group, are so out of touch with them and seemingly indifferent. No wonder they strike out into dark worlds of hate, Hitler, racism, violence, you name it. No, censorship is not what I was suggesting, guidance was. So, how about suggesting what IS the answer, and not what's NOT the answer. If you dont' have one, hey, neither do I. But it deserves some thought I think. I guess you do too.

KSL