CU experts discuss lessons to learn on anniversary of Columbine shootings

By Susan Lang

Vicious videos, a subculture of adolescent terrorism and myths about adolescence: These are a few of the factors that contributed to the tragic Columbine shootings on April 20 two years ago. On this anniversary, we have lessons to learn from those devastating shootings, says adolescent violence expert James Garbarino at Cornell.

Researcher Ellen deLara and Professor James Garbarino of the Family Life Development Center. Richard Killen/University Photography

Garbarino, a professor of human development, and researcher Ellen deLara, both with the Family Life Development Center at Cornell, have written a paper for the occasion, "On The Anniversary of Columbine: Ten Lessons Learned and Forgotten."

Garbarino and deLara point to the growing trend of school shootings by alienated and troubled middle-class, white youth who look at other school shooters as cultural icons; but this subculture, they say, can be undermined.

Just as the campaign "good friends don't let friends drive drunk" has been so successful, Garbarino said, we need to convince youth to report to caring adults any students who threaten to kill -- and those adults need to let adolescents know they are genuinely cared about.

"We need to listen to our kids," the Cornell experts stress. "And despite typical adolescent talk about breaking away from families and adult supervision, adolescents need and want more supervision than we previously considered."

Garbarino and deLara warn that certain cultural myths about adolescence, such as, "boys will be boys," "there will always be bullies" and "you can't do much about sexual harassment," only serve to make schools hostile environments. These "myths," they say, permit disrespectful behavior that needs to be systemically addressed.

"Far too many kids can't make it through American adolescence without detouring to the dark side of our culture and going to war against the world in which they feel so aggrieved, rejected, humiliated and alienated. To prevent this, we need to pay heed to the important lessons to be learned from past shootings; they must not be forgotten," said Garbarino.

The full text of "On The Anniversary of Columbine: Ten Lessons Learned and Forgotten" is available at www.news.cornell.edu/releases/April01/Columbine.lessons.html.