Columbine High School Shooting

On April 20, 1999, two high school students by the names of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold carefully and maliciously planned a massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. They killed fifteen people, one being a teacher, and left twenty-three in need of hospitalization before finally turning their guns on themselves. This event influenced Elliot Aronson to write his book, Nobody Left To Hate, in hopes to educate people on why such travesties occur within our schools, and—most importantly—what we as a society can do to prevent not only these acts of violence themselves, but to seek out the root of the problem by addressing what has led students of today to feel so neglected and misunderstood that they believe the only solution is to retaliate violently against their peers. Aronson applies a combination of his scientific research and his personal experience as both a teacher and a parent to contribute to the "national dialogue on this issue". Time magazine recently reported that an average of twenty percent of teenagers attending high schools are taking medication to treat either depression or another psychiatric disorder. Latest government findings show that one out of five adolescents have seriously considered suicide, with one out of ten having actually attempted it. This statistic reveals a 400 percent increase since 1950. A main focal point in Nobody Left To Hate is to stress the fact our schools can and must play a crucial role in the prevention of student depression by creating an environment that both deters violence and helps to develop students' characters as well as their intellects. Schools need to become a more inclusive and caring community for all students. Aronson points out two kinds of intervention: root cause intervention and peripheral intervention. An example of peripheral intervention is installing metal detectors or implementing stringent gun control. Such intervention is certainly useful, and has no reason to not be utilized.