Where have all the children gone?

I have a third grader!!

The list that came up after I googled "third grade plot" included writing tips for teachers, content standards and third graders plot to murder teacher. Is this just a sensationalized isolated incident? Or an indication of the direction our society is headed?

I shudder at the thought.

The reaction from some experts is that the children probably wouldn't have gone through with the murder. Oh, that makes me feel lots better. Isn't it horrifying enough that 8,9 and 10 year-olds thought through the details? Enough to assign clean-up?? The reports indicate that these children came from good homes. The children did not have a previous history of violence. The attack was in retaliation to being disciplined for standing on a chair. What was the discipline? Could it really have been enough to ignite such a violent reaction? It's April and most of the school year is over. I'm going to assume that this wasn't the first time someone was disciplined. Were the parents not involved in the discipline process?

I know it doesn't do any good to raise a bunch of hypothetical questions. What we should be asking ourselves is: What can we learn from this? How can we prevent this in the future? And probably the most immediate question should be: How can we best help these children and their families with out taking away the consequence? It does not help them if we place the blame on medication, video games, not enough attention at home, or supervision at school. While those factors may or may not have influenced their decision, we learn from our mistakes by accepting the consequence of them.

I'm a little concerned with the statement made by the director of the Barton Juvenile Defender Clinic at Emory University School of Law, Randee Waldman:

"Children so young often aren't considered competent to stand trial because they lack the maturity to understand even the basics of the legal system. They may also be deemed too young to have had criminal intent."

I'm not sure what more it would take to show that these children had criminal intentions, short of actually committing murder. We all can hope against hope that they probably would not have followed through with their plans. But I bet that doesn't help the teacher sleep any better.

While the whole thing is just terribly sad and scary, I think the bigger tragedy would be to miss the lessons that can be learned because we're too afraid of the truth.

We've been enjoying the stimulating, care-free, responsibility-free, self centered tune of the Pied Piper. If we are not careful, he will lead our children away with the same captivating song.