Reflection on the Columbine Tragedy

It’s been ten years since the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton Colorado. On that unforgettable day, two Goth-obsessed loners, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, went on a shooting rampage and killed 12 of their classmates and a teacher, injured 23 others and then turned their guns on themselves.

The Columbine tragedy left a lasting mark on many Americans, probably because of the media's around-the-clock coverage in the days and weeks following the shooting. It was the top news story of 1999 and I would venture to say that nothing else stunned Americans in this fashion until September 11th two years later. Some days in life you just remember like it was yesterday. Do you remember where were you when JFK was assassinated, or when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded or on September 11th? This would be one of those days.

On April 20, 1999 I was teaching students at Navy Nuclear Power School in Orlando Florida undoubtedly one of the toughest schools in the nation. I was new to the teaching game and this was my first class. The volume of material taught is immense and the timeline is rapid. Imagine receiving a 4 year college degree in a year and a half, the best analogy I can come up with. A typical week included 50 hours of classroom instruction, 5 hours of physical fitness training and another 30 to 50 hours of mandated study time, maybe even more if the student was having a hard time keeping up. It was grueling, intense and left no margin for error. These kids, mostly 18 to 21 years old, had dedicated their life to this school but many would soon fail. Failure was something new to these kids as most were in the top 10% of their high schools. An attrition rate of 60% from start to finish of this program was not uncommon as a matter of fact it was more the norm. Only the best of the best would succeed and when they failed… many would crack. I had seen this first-hand on many occasions and we were trained on how to recognize warning signs and what actions to take, at least I thought so until that day.

The Columbine tragedy brought another dimension to teaching that I had never thought about. I now feared being at the podium. Would one of my students snap and unleash a violent attack on me or their classmates? What kind of protection did I have? None really. Suicidal ideations and violent threats were not uncommon but for the most part I had never taken threats towards me that serious, until that day. My life had changed.

It was hard to stand at the podium that day and I decided not to teach but rather to reflect upon the events with my students. It was good wholesome conversation and made me feel much more secure but from that point forward I’d never let down my guard. I continued teaching for another 3 years before going back out to sea. I would venture to say that I taught roughly 800 or so students during some stage of their schooling and fortunately I never had any serious confrontations. Although I have a Master’s degree in Education, I no longer teach. I always found that the politics involved with education prevents learning.