OT: School Shootings

[speedstrength]

There are some major inaccuracies in some of the previous post. There are 5.3 million children in Texas public schools. There are about 320k in private schools. Public school enrollment is up 16% in the past 10 years about 7% in private schools.

Charter schools in Texas aren't allowed to be for profit.

Online education is expensive. Access to a learning management system is about $100 per user if you run the server or about $300 per user if they run the server. Pre packed course cartridges run anywhere from 80-400 per student per semester at the college level. I teach online and hybrid courses so in order to save cost to the students I build the courses. It takes a long time and I spend more time on my online courses then I do in my face to face courses. Some classes work well online some don't. Online isn't going to be the cost effective savior that some think.

The kid in Italy had all kinds of warning signs. He apparently had a hit list that he made in 8th grade. He was known to have violent out burst. How did this kids get a gun?

Did you hear about the foiled attack in Pittsburgh. Kid was overheard on the bus and was turned in. The kid was 14 and in his room were several semi automatic rifles, a hand gun, a cross bow, throwing knives and 2 machetes. How did he get all that stuff?

 

[clob94]

That's a pretty impressive arsenal. Bounce the throwing knives and machetes from the equation as they are worthless in a gun fight, and that still some hardware that will do some damage. But you're correct, how did a 14 year old kid get all this stuff? I mean, I had guns at 14, but they were all gifts from dad and my grandpa. On top of that, aside from my 6 shooter, they were all sporting arms.

I've thought about it over the weekend and though I'm no closer to truly understanding what makes kids do this, I think I may be onto something. Bear with me and tell me what you think:

Kids today all want one thing: to be known. To be famous. Look at the youtube channels out there. There are kids that create youtube channels of themselves playing fvcking video games. Kids video themselves doing stupid sh!t for attention. Hell they are eating Tide pods now on video for attention. They all want to be "somebody" and be noticed.

There are those with real talent and then there's the kids that realize that no matter how many vids they post on youtube, they will never "get famous". I mean jesus christ, why is Kim Kardashian famous? Cause she has a big ass. That's it. She has no skills other than a big ass. There are people now that are famous not because of talent, just because. When these kids realize they won't be famous, maybe the next best thing in their mind is to be "infamous".

They pick up a gun and target those people they feel have kept them from being famous. The people that didn't "like" them on social media. They pick up a gun and decide to become famous for another reason......... maybe?

There are some major inaccuracies in some of the previous post. There are 5.3 million children in Texas public schools. There are about 320k in private schools. Public school enrollment is up 16% in the past 10 years about 7% in private schools.

Charter schools in Texas aren't allowed to be for profit.

Online education is expensive. Access to a learning management system is about $100 per user if you run the server or about $300 per user if they run the server. Pre packed course cartridges run anywhere from 80-400 per student per semester at the college level. I teach online and hybrid courses so in order to save cost to the students I build the courses. It takes a long time and I spend more time on my online courses then I do in my face to face courses. Some classes work well online some don't. Online isn't going to be the cost effective savior that some think.

The kid in Italy had all kinds of warning signs. He apparently had a hit list that he made in 8th grade. He was known to have violent out burst. How did this kids get a gun?

Did you hear about the foiled attack in Pittsburgh. Kid was overheard on the bus and was turned in. The kid was 14 and in his room were several semi automatic rifles, a hand gun, a cross bow, throwing knives and 2 machetes. How did he get all that stuff?

 

[2300 Nueces]

That's a pretty impressive arsenal. Bounce the throwing knives and machetes from the equation as they are worthless in a gun fight, and that still some hardware that will do some damage. But you're correct, how did a 14 year old kid get all this stuff? I mean, I had guns at 14, but they were all gifts from dad and my grandpa. On top of that, aside from my 6 shooter, they were all sporting arms.

I've thought about it over the weekend and though I'm no closer to truly understanding what makes kids do this, I think I may be onto something. Bear with me and tell me what you think:

Kids today all want one thing: to be known. To be famous. Look at the youtube channels out there. There are kids that create youtube channels of themselves playing fvcking video games. Kids video themselves doing stupid sh!t for attention. Hell they are eating Tide pods now on video for attention. They all want to be "somebody" and be noticed.

There are those with real talent and then there's the kids that realize that no matter how many vids they post on youtube, they will never "get famous". I mean jesus christ, why is Kim Kardashian famous? Cause she has a big ass. That's it. She has no skills other than a big ass. There are people now that are famous not because of talent, just because. When these kids realize they won't be famous, maybe the next best thing in their mind is to be "infamous".

They pick up a gun and target those people they feel have kept them from being famous. The people that didn't "like" them on social media. They pick up a gun and decide to become famous for another reason......... maybe?

It's pride. It's just manifesting earlier and in the need to be worshiped by others. Adults do this by leveraging themselves to buy the highest end whatever to strut in front of their neighbors.


Online learning.... this will eventually become much cheaper than traditional learning. It has to become less expensive. The amount of tuition debt has exceeded the amount of credit card debt. Essentially kids are selling themselves as slaves to go to university. This will not end well for the kids or the universities. Eventually the defaults will be pushed out to the public in the form of bailouts our bail-ins. My wife and I home school our kids and they are light years ahead of their piers academically. Socially they are able to hold conversations with adults, don't play with phones or gadgets, aren't consumed with the latest drug or video game, all swim competitively, and serve at Church and in the public. We have taught them the joy of reading. I know what a concept! I have found the curriculum to be inexpensive and online academies inexpensive as well. This is going to filter upward into the university level learning curriculum. The issue I see is the "accreditation" process which is being used to keep costs high by keeping out the competition. I don't think it will last long as new technology always wins.

 

[speedstrength]

Online education is run by corporations. The first thing you need is an LMS (learning management system). The two big ones are Blackboard and Canvas. They charge per user. We also had to buy the server and pay people to run the servers. The hardware and tech support aren't cheap but that was actually cheaper than playing Blackboard or Canvas to use their servers.

Then you have to pay for the content. You can pay a teacher to create the content or you can by a pre packaged course cartridge from a textbook company. Those course cartridges aren't cheap and unlike a textbook you can't reuse them. Then you have to pay someone to grade papers and interact with students. In order to do online classes well you need 1 instructor for 20-50 people depending on the nature of the course. Its not much cheaper. Places like Southern New Hampshire, Western Governors University, Grand Canyon University and the University of Phoenix aren't really cheaper than public universities and their completion percentages are horrible. The people who tend to do well in those online only programs are working professionals who have had some face to face college coursework. Those people need the flexibility of an online only program and there are plenty of 4 year colleges going after that demographic. We are built several online only graduate programs and we are tossing around ideas for an online only undergraduate general studies degree. They won't be any cheaper than running a face to face class on our end.

 

[2300 Nueces]

When I was at UT in the early 90's books were approximately $1500 and 15 hours of tuition was $1500. I know, my mother paid books and tuition and I paid everything else. Dad was an alcoholic and did nothing so I worked full time at night after classes. Anyway, it was affordable. Kids today are behind the 8 ball before they begin. Today, I would choose a trade and go the self employment route over 6 figures of debt and a rocky job market. Many trades pull 6 figures or close after a few years. How do we get the tuition issue corrected?

 

[TX1972]

When I was at UT in the early 90's books were approximately $1500 and 15 hours of tuition was $1500. I know, my mother paid books and tuition and I paid everything else. Dad was an alcoholic and did nothing so I worked full time at night after classes. Anyway, it was affordable. Kids today are behind the 8 ball before they begin. Today, I would choose a trade and go the self employment route over 6 figures of debt and a rocky job market. Many trades pull 6 figures or close after a few years. How do we get the tuition issue corrected?[ I paid less than $100./ semester and $108. dorm room /semester. Student loans have allowed colleges to raise tuition. We didn't have cars, tv, cellphones, so more time to "study". Tuition will be difficult to control now that no one expects to spend their own money now.

 

[speedstrength]

When I was at UT in the early 90's books were approximately $1500 and 15 hours of tuition was $1500. I know, my mother paid books and tuition and I paid everything else. Dad was an alcoholic and did nothing so I worked full time at night after classes. Anyway, it was affordable. Kids today are behind the 8 ball before they begin. Today, I would choose a trade and go the self employment route over 6 figures of debt and a rocky job market. Many trades pull 6 figures or close after a few years. How do we get the tuition issue corrected?

I was at UT from 95-99. I paid between 1100-1900 per semester. I took between 12-18 hours per semester. Books weren't too bad. 200-300 per semester. Since that time state funding per student has dropped by almost 40%. In order to make up for that tuition has increased. Those people on the board that went to UT in the 70's and 80's had an even better deal. The drop in funding since the early 80s is getting close to 60%.

 

[LongfellowDrew]

12-year-old girl booked after accidental LA school shooting

And another one. SMH!

 

[Oldmanastro]

Again today. Breaks my heart. 17 dead at this point. I look at my two young daughters and I get shivers. Then give them a hug and don’t want to let go.
God Bless their souls.

 

[JonBinge]

Thank God the faculty in our town ISD can strap up.

 

[LongfellowDrew]

Again today. Breaks my heart. 17 dead at this point. I look at my two young daughters and I get shivers. Then give them a hug and don’t want to let go.
God Bless their souls.

And I can guarantee you just thoughts and prayers as usual will be the only thing that happens. I don't have the answers but just sitting idle isn't the answer and using excuses after excuses is obviously not working. I believe everyone has the right to own a gun but man we need something at these schools to stop this from happening.

 

[ASURAM2010]

I love guns just as much as the next guy (okay maybe not as much as @clob94) but I agree this has gotten ridiculous. 35 days into 2018 and 18 school shootings that is one every other day.

I know there are bigger issues at play here, but we have got to do something.

 

[LongfellowDrew]

I love guns just as much as the next guy (okay maybe not as much as @clob94) but I agree this has gotten ridiculous. 35 days into 2018 and 18 school shootings that is one every other day.

I know there are bigger issues at play here, but we have got to do something.

You know what's unfortunate ASURAM2010 when I've had to sit down with my kid while in high school and tell her to always be aware of your surroundings at school. Know the exits make sure you know how to escape out of class if you have windows but make sure if you here gun shots you do your best to get the F out of there. I mean her being a woman I've always told her to make sure she's not alone at night and shit but telling her to watch her back at school is on another level. Where I grew up I heard drive bys probably every other night and you think you escape the possibility of violence by moving to the suburbs but all it takes is a kid that thinks his/her life is over because of a broken heart or just wants revenge. SUCKS!

 

[2300 Nueces]

Society has passed the tipping point of acting on evil desires. All people have the propensity to do evil but it's our conscious and desire to love our neighbor that stops it. 2 Timothy 3 predicted these times. I will let you look it up. Nothing will change until personal responsibility for EVERY part of one's life and actions makes a strong comeback. No longer can the evil's of the individual be born by the collective. Until this happens, having anything to do with the public square is a huge risk.


Edit: To be clear, we will be returning to Roman style justice. It's just a matter of time.

 

[speedstrength]

All the signs were there.Young male, social isolation, mental illness, disturbing internet post, expulsion from school. Hell he posted a comment on a youtube video saying he was going to be a professional school shooter. The dude that uploaded the Youtube clip reported the comment to the FBI so the shooter was known to law enforcement at the federal and local level. Yet somehow the kid was able to pass a background check.

We have a way to fix this. AI and the computing power is there. Researchers at Stanford used machine learning and trained computers to determine if someone was gay just by looking at a single picture. The accuracy was 81%. Imagine what they could do with more data points. Early identification of school shooters could easily get into the 97%-99% accuracy range if social media outlets would scan post and send that info to the FBI. I mean they scan every post and every picture, video and comment already so they can sell your info to other companies why not use that computing power to solve a problem.

 

[2300 Nueces]

All the signs were there.Young male, social isolation, mental illness, disturbing internet post, expulsion from school. Hell he posted a comment on a youtube video saying he was going to be a professional school shooter. The dude that uploaded the Youtube clip reported the comment to the FBI so the shooter was known to law enforcement at the federal and local level. Yet somehow the kid was able to pass a background check.

We have a way to fix this. AI and the computing power is there. Researchers at Stanford used machine learning and trained computers to determine if someone was gay just by looking at a single picture. The accuracy was 81%. Imagine what they could do with more data points. Early identification of school shooters could easily get into the 97%-99% accuracy range if social media outlets would scan post and send that info to the FBI. I mean they scan every post and every picture, video and comment already so they can sell your info to other companies why not use that computing power to solve a problem.

Yes, it's coming and the punishment standards are going to be shortened and made more severe. It's a financial certainty. While punishment is not a perfect deterrent, it's a pretty damn good one.

 

[speedstrength]

Nah I doubt it. After Aurora, Sandy Hook, and Vegas there was a pretty strong push for some fairly tailored gun control measures. For Aurora and Sandy hook it was adding diagnosed mental illness as a disqualification for a background check. That didn't happen. After Vegas it was a ban on Bump Stocks. And that didn't happen. I imagine that there will be new calls for adding mental illness to the background checks but end the end nothing will change and we will be distracted by the lastest tweet and then it will come full circle when the next school shooting happens.

 

[2300 Nueces]

Nah I doubt it. After Aurora, Sandy Hook, and Vegas there was a pretty strong push for some fairly tailored gun control measures. For Aurora and Sandy hook it was adding diagnosed mental illness as a disqualification for a background check. That didn't happen. After Vegas it was a ban on Bump Stocks. And that didn't happen. I imagine that there will be new calls for adding mental illness to the background checks but end the end nothing will change and we will be distracted by the lastest tweet and then it will come full circle when the next school shooting happens.

They are coming faster and we will soon reach critical mass. Taking away guns will not work. No one will comply. In Rome, people were crucified for theft... we are heading there fast. This country thrived on frontier justice, meaning quick public trials and quick public hangings.

 

[LongfellowDrew]

I'm with speedstrength. Nothing will happen we seem to forget after a week and move on to the next thing Trump, Kardashin, sporting event etc... We do not care enough because it hasn't happened to someone in office or a very wealthy person.

 

[speedstrength]

We have something called the 8th amendment so I doubt you are going to see massive changes in sentencing. The other thing you need to consider is that these people aren't right in the head and honestly most are at a point where they just don't care if they live or die. However since we have all of these powerful computing tools it would be fairly easy to spot these guys early. I mean if you look at the school shooters they all fit a pretty predictable pattern. There are always warning signs. We can try to make it a little harder for them to get a fire arm. I mean there are 8-10 million AR platform weapons out there and there are plenty of people willing to sell to people who can't pass a background check. But at least make them buy their mass murder weapons on the black market.

 

[2300 Nueces]

I'm with speedstrength. Nothing will happen we seem to forget after a week and move on to the next thing Trump, Kardashin, sporting event etc... We do not care enough because it hasn't happened to someone in office or a very wealthy person.

Then this will equal the death of public education and any other percieved soft target of these nut bags. Not on the political end but on the parental end. People are pulling kids out at an alarming rate.

 

[2300 Nueces]

We have something called the 8th amendment so I doubt you are going to see massive changes in sentencing. The other thing you need to consider is that these people aren't right in the head and honestly most are at a point where they just don't care if they live or die. However since we have all of these powerful computing tools it would be fairly easy to spot these guys early. I mean if you look at the school shooters they all fit a pretty predictable pattern. There are always warning signs. We can try to make it a little harder for them to get a fire arm. I mean there are 8-10 million AR platform weapons out there and there are plenty of people willing to sell to people who can't pass a background check. But at least make them buy their mass murder weapons on the black market.

They will go into hiding after the first few are busted. The surveillance techniques will have to become more and more intrusive... which is a problem.

 

[LongfellowDrew]

I just watched a snap chat video of a kid in the school and it's pretty freighting especially if you can imagine it being your kid.

 

[speedstrength]

They will go into hiding after the first few are busted. The surveillance techniques will have to become more and more intrusive... which is a problem.

Most people do it to themselves. Social media and Corporate America "spies" on you far more than the Government. For some reason people don't really question the amount of data that is being collected on you every time you post, tweet, snap, pin, stream or even shop at brick and motor stores. They know how old you are, your background, shopping habits, political affiliations and they sell that data. Now we have smart thermostats, fitness trackers, vacuums, speakers, and TVs that are collecting tons of information about our daily habits so surveillance on a massive scale is already happening. Just tweak the algorithm to identify school shooters. Its not like kids aren't going to stop posting on social media. It's how they operate.

 

[Scholz]

If 20 dead six year olds didn't spur action on gun control, nothing will. That's when I knew this debate was over. I just hope the NRA blood money comforts all the corrupt congressmen in the afterlife.

 

[LongfellowDrew]

Lucky this one didn't turn into someone getting shot.
https://www.click2houston.com/news/...own-after-gun-brought-to-school-officials-say

 

[TX1972]

I was at UT from 95-99. I paid between 1100-1900 per semester. I took between 12-18 hours per semester. Books weren't too bad. 200-300 per semester. Since that time state funding per student has dropped by almost 40%. In order to make up for that tuition has increased. Those people on the board that went to UT in the 70's and 80's had an even better deal. The drop in funding since the early 80s is getting close to 60%.

You're a couple years older than my oldest daughter. The reason tuition went up is STUDENT LOANS. In the 60's few students took out loans, so schools couldn't charge what they do today. Living expenses went up because now everybody wants air conditioning, a car, a cell phone, and a television. None of which I or most of my friends could afford.

 

[TX1972]

If 20 dead six year olds didn't spur action on gun control, nothing will. That's when I knew this debate was over. I just hope the NRA blood money comforts all the corrupt congressmen in the afterlife.

So many more children killed by police. Just not 15 at a time. Let's control law enforcement if we really want to save the children.

 

[2300 Nueces]

If 20 dead six year olds didn't spur action on gun control, nothing will. That's when I knew this debate was over. I just hope the NRA blood money comforts all the corrupt congressmen in the afterlife.

If taking away guns would guarantee that gun murders would end, then I would be all for it. Check out Mexico. Gun control does not work. It makes murders by people using guns worse. Making drugs illegal does not work. It only creates the opportunity for illegal profiteering by miscreants. Making guns illegal will not work.... We are going to have to harden the targets without increasing budgets. It's a reality of the world we live in... It's time to put armed police inside the schools and at guard posts. I pulled my kids out long ago. My wife who has a BS from aggyland teaches my kids. We forgo a nice salary to make this happen but the most important investment one will ever make is in one's children.

 

[LongfellowDrew]

So many more children killed by police. Just not 15 at a time. Let's control law enforcement if we really want to save the children.

So it's ok for kids to be killed in school while learning? See this is one issue we have as Americans we divert from the topic at hand.