School Shooting and Gun Control

Although acts of violence like the shooting at Fairfax High can unfortunately occur at any school campus at any time, the so-called winter session that served as the backdrop for the shooting was an accident waiting to happen. Winter session is the product of the school board’s year-round schedule, a schedule that forces approximately 45 high schools to conform to the timetable of the five schools that actually need a multitrack program. Winter session offers only remedial courses, and because of the short four-week schedule, students take only two classes, each of which lasts some three hours. Larger, longer, remedial classes--one doesn’t need to be an educator to recognize a blueprint for trouble.

Because not every Los Angeles high school offers winter classes, students from all over the city are forced into new schools settings. Obviously, such students bring their territorial disputes, gang affiliations and personal anxieties along with them. At Fairfax, the inter-session population is even greater than the school’s regular enrollment. What’s more, to cope with these intensified social pressures, the district provides schools with--not more--but fewer adult supervisory personnel.

Once again, we are reminded of Mark Twain’s observation: “In the beginning God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.”

DANIEL D. VICTOR

English Teacher, Fairfax High School