Subject: Sixth Graders in High School
As more information is released about the shooting in Iowa, the identify of the child actually killed was released. The child was an eleven year-old sixth grader. An eleven year-old SIXTH GRADER shot in a HIGH SCHOOL.

What's wrong with this picture?

Perry has a population of about 7800 and the district serves about 1785 students across all grades. The elementary school is a distinct campus but the middle school and high school are co-located at the same address but with separate buildings. The shooting took place around the cafeteria as a special program concluded before regular class that overlapped breakfast served in the cafeteria for all grades. I presume that many smaller, rural districts cannot afford separate school facilities if the district only has a few hundred students total. However there is NO WAY that sixth graders should be mixing with eighteen year olds on a daily basis in a modern American school environment.

I was always under the impression growing up that junior and senior high schools were kept separate to delay the age at which kids were around other kids who could drive. Proximity to other kids who have access to a vehicle vastly expands the variety, quantity and depth of dangers to which kids are exposed. And that was a 1970s / 1980s assumption on my part. I wasn't under the impression I had active meth dealers or people with access to automatic weapons at my school.

Other aspects of the recent updates imply that the shooter was bullied since elementary school, though other students had made efforts to befriend him. What a toxic, "Lord of the Flies" environment to dunk kids in while trying to educate them. It's no wonder generation after generation of defective citizenry are emerging each May. We probably are seeing graduating classes with at least 20% PTSD symptoms.


WTH