Worldwide school shootings happen regularly. According to www.infoplease.com since 1996, there have been fifty eight major school shootings, worldwide. Resulting in numerous deaths. That is an average of nearly five school shootings per year.

This is a very serious issue that I am not convinced, much can be done about. Lets face it. Most of our schools are under funded and over crowded with students. Due to this fact, teachers and counselors a like, have less time to spend, one on one with students. This fact makes it difficult for teachers or counselors to pick up on the tell tale signs of potential teenage murderers.

Most experts agree, that smaller classrooms not only benefit the students, but also benefit the teachers. Smaller classrooms allow the teacher to be more available to their students. Thus allowing them the opportunity to get to know their students.

• Students in smaller classes excel across the board in comparison to students in regular sized classes.
• Students in smaller classes participate more in the classroom, are more interested in studying and less disruptive than students in regular sized classes.
• Students in smaller classes complete more advanced curriculum that students in regular sized classes.

According to an article on www.securityinfowatch.com here are the ten things our high schools should be doing to prevent a school shooting.

1. Limit Access to Campus Doors.
2. Add a Badging Card Access System.
3. Add an Armed Officer.
4. Train ALL Potential Responders.
5. Pull in Staff.
6. Find Budget Money.
7. Address Emergency Notification Systems.
8. Create School Security Standards.
9. Conduct Response Drills.
10. Lose the, " It Won't Happen To Us Attitude."

Teenagers become violent because of their environment. As children they learn violence from their families, friends and neighbors. The violence they learn is strengthened by violent TV & Internet programs, movies, video games and music. While children subjected to physical, verbal and sexual abuse are at a greater risk of becoming violent, all children are at risk to some extent. The greater the exposure to violence the greater the chance a child will respond violently towards others.

If your teenager exhibits many of these behaviors you should seek the help of a professional immediately.

• Threatens Violence.
• Has Access To Weapons.
• Threatens Suicide.
• Family History of Violence.
• Shirks Responsibility.
• Has Feelings Of Rejection.
• Intimidates Younger Children.
• Is Exposed To Violence At Home.
• Has An Obsession With Death.
• Suffers From Depression.
• Use Of Illegal Narcotics.
• Is A Troublemaker.
• Hurts Animals.
• Participates In Arson.
• Is Friendless
• Has Little Or No Supervision.
• Has A Sense Of Entitlement Regardless The Cost.

Obviously, the more of these symptoms a teenager exhibits, the more likely the teenager has a problem. Several teenager's exhibit similar behaviors and never commit violence. Care should be taken, regarding these matters.

Society is to blame for the current state of affairs, regarding violent crime committed by teenagers. All children are innocent when they arrive in this world. It is society, that fills their minds with violence. From the time they arrive, they are exposed to a world that sensationalizes violence through it's constant barrage of violent TV & Internet programs, movies, music and video games.

Our children are not bore to us as psychopaths. But society's constant images of violence may very well be turning a great many of them into psychopaths. Each year more of our children commit a greater percentage of violent crime.

Rather than blaming the individual parents of these children, we should be blaming ourselves. It is our society that has created this pandemic, not the individual parents.