And then there was Columbine
- © Michele Toomey, PhD • April 21, 2000

The worst high school massacre in our history is forever etched in our memory, but what of the lessons on violence it holds for us? Schools have taken steps to protect their students and teach conflict resolution. More police, locked doors, security cameras, more counselors, more accountability, even picture identification badges. All positive steps, and yet there is an essential need still not addressed in a significant way, the need for intimacy. What does it say about intimacy when students need picture ID's in order for other students and faculty to know their name? Our schools have gotten too large for our students to know each other and to be known by teachers. Of course, small groups of friends form, cliques as we call them, and the sense of belonging is felt within those groupings. However, it is much easier to feel ostracized or gain a sense of inferiority or superiority from belonging to the wrong "out" group or right "in" group, than it is if we know and are known as individuals. Financial considerations motivated us to build consolidated schools where facilities could be shared by large numbers of students and costs could be cut. We need to pay attention to the psychological costs that anonynimity brings. We also need to be accountable for the lack of oversight that is possible when teachers and administrators have a thousand students instead of several hundred to oversee.