Finally, how many opportunities can we afford to give chronic troublemakers before their chance for an education is denied them? Shouldn't a free, public education be viewed as a privilege, not a right, that is earned through civil behavior?
In spite of the distance between the locales of the school shootings, several similarities can be drawn among the perpetrators of the killings. Virtually all of them considered themselves outcasts and targets for ridicule by some of their classmates. Their crimes were perverse acts of retribution for real or imagined offenses committed by their peers. Might these horrors have been avoided if there was a true level playing field for all students?
Perhaps if we worshiped at the altar of something other than athletic prowess or personal attractiveness, instituted a zero tolerance policy for bullying, and taught and lived the "golden rule," future tragedies could be reduced to aberrations, instead of the all-too-common occurrences they've become.
Michael C. McCauley
Sewell
Standards of behavior In December 1966, my elementary school sponsored a holiday open house. Whether for convenience or merit, I was chosen by our principal, Miss Esther Frost, to commandeer the recorded music to play over the PA system. On the big night, I made a poor selection. Minutes after the song began, I first sensed, then actually heard, the thunderous approach of Miss Frost's thick, brown rubber-soled oxfords. I do not remember the details of what followed. Prominent in my memory to this day, however, is Miss Frost's fiery disapproval and reprimand.
