A group of St. Joseph School parents, teachers and other community members gathered at St. Joseph Church Monday night to get a lesson on a subject no one likes to hear about school violence.
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, an internationally recognized scholar, author, soldier and speaker, visited Conway to talk about changes in culture, the new factor when it comes to aggression in students around the world.
"Juvenile mass murders in schools are something that have never happened before in history, but in just the last 10 years, there have been hundreds and hundreds of juvenile mass murders in schools and attempted juvenile mass murders in schools," Grossman said. "And the one thing most of these kids have in common is they are immersed in a culture of violence."
Grossman, who pioneered the study of killology, said the violence portrayed on television, movies and video games are "toxic, addictive substance for kids," and the best way to combat that is to turn them off.
He showed slides of brain scans of children who have a low exposure to media violence next to those who have a high exposure and said there is a vast difference in the amount of brain activity. He added it only takes about three days to "detoxify" a child's brain by turning off the violent video games, movies and television.
He said on average, a child spends 45 hours a week in front of the television, and pointed out the fact that his talk Monday coincided with National TV Turnoff Week, in which many local schools participate.
Joe Mallett, principal of St. Joseph High School, said he thought this information was important to share so the community could see that this type of behavior is happening everywhere.
"There's no one who is immune to it and you can sit there and deny it and say it's not possible, but you'd just be kidding yourself," Mallett said.
According to Mallett, the biggest thing he got out of Grossman's message was that there are so many things that can be done to prevent or lessen the chances of school violence.
"Our parents are already really involved, but they need to be involved in all aspects of their kids' lives," Mallett said. "With technology and video games, the kids are way ahead of us and as parents we need to be aware and know what's going on."
Mallett said any educator can tell any parent how to lessen those chances, but bringing someone in with Grossman's credentials and background carries more weight. Grossman is a West Point psychology professor, a professor of military science, an Army Ranger and the author of "On Killing," for which he has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he said.
After the event Mallett said he was pleased with the community's turnout and added St. Joseph was lucky to have had the opportunity to host Grossman's talk, as he is on the road 300 days a year.
"I've gotten several comments last night and this morning and I think he definitely made a positive impression on everyone," Mallett said Tuesday.
(Staff writer Jessica Bauer can be reached by e-mail at jessica.bauer@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1236. To comment on this and other stories in the Log Cabin, log on to www.thecabin.net. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)
