Too High A Price For Harmony

In 1992 after re-certification as a Professional Teacher in Colorado and upon my re-entry into the world of education I knew that there was something desperately wrong. The things that one AVOIDS in order to maintain an independent status as a free individual were present in the dynamics of the classroom. In my usual style of protest I wrote a prophetic poem from the perspective of a student that was a portent of the violence that was to occur several years later. After the Columbine Massacre the murder and suicide of High School students and a teacher on Apri1 20 1999 I knew I had to delve deeply into the reason why I wrote that poem. This manuscript is a result of three summers and eight to ten hours a day of analysis and research into the causes of rage and the will of school violence. As this manuscript is written from the perspective of one who has been the teacher in hundreds of classrooms and from one that has met thousands of students; it is my hope that this manuscript will be read by students themselves as well as teachers parents administrators and legislators and anyone who directly or indirectly makes decisions that affect the children. There is a cause as well as a solution of school shooting. The cause is one that affects the freedom of every American individual.