From:           	Ann Cronin
Subject:        	Columbine, Puyallup, Eastlake
Date sent:      	Mon, 1 Feb 1999 15:46:28 -0800


Another round of serious threats of violence hit home today on the
Eastside.  The flagship high school of the Lake Washington School District,
Eastlake High School, closed for the day after chat room tirades escalated
to extreme and personalized threats of violence.  What do Columbine,
Eastlake and the strife riden, racially divided Puyallup High all have in
cimmon?  They are all members of the education reform movement called
Coalition for Essential Schools.  Ted Sizer's CES advocates their 10 Common
Principles in order to achieve their own special brand of educational
deform.  At the heart of the principles is the notion that adult leadership
that gives kids content, a full range of class offerings, a six/seven
period day and a rich set of clear expectations is BAD!  Sizer advocates
the block schedule, project based learning, fuzzy, subjective portfolios,
heavy technology, integrated math/language arts/ social studies, compulsory
volunterism, closing down the arts like band or drama, closing shop or AP,
senior exhibitions and less-is-more from teachers.  Adults should be guides
on the side, not the sages on the stage.  Students should work in groups on
projects incessantly.  


Kids learn that any bs is acceptable and the lack of a strong adult
presence in CES schools leads to the breakdown of normal social parameters.
 Moreover, with so little of academic content offered in CES schools, the
classroom time is spent in socializing students into the acceptable values
and attitudes of the elite clique of students.  Most schools are a beehive
of many cliques with a strong presence of adults who assure the tolerance
of the diversity of opportunity.  One clique may dominate but not to the
total exclusion of others.  In CES schools, there is only one dominate,
socially perfect clique that often preys on the other students. Differences
are not tolerated from the narrow bandwith.  The adults provide no
leadership because that would violate the coalition principle that learning
would no longer be essential, or to paraphrase, anything goes  learning is
threatened.  As the elite group takes its hold on the school, replacing
adult authority, the most different of students such as an African-American
or a Goth become targets. The targets can vary but most likely the targets
will be those kids who find a little solidarity with other kids like them. 
The presence of a new group of kids coming together threatens the power
base of the elite clique and from there, anger, frustration and aggression
ensues.  A late twentienth century lord of the flies, if you will.  


Does this sound like Eastlake?  Oh, you bet.  Eastlake last year was
targeted by the Seattle Times for the similarity it had to Columbine.  What
they missed was the culture issue.  A new leadership team of Hardie and
Sinclair are taking Eastlake to the depths of CES deform.  Their compulsory
Extended Core school takes the one size fits all philosophy of education to
the extreme.  The new co-principals are ga-ga over this concept.  Lock step
education to make everyone look, think and act the same.  KIds all bleach,
tan, pierce, dress and listen to the same music of the elite or differences
get targeted.  The lack of anything meaningful for bright kids leads to a
restlessness that chat rooms can vent.    


Adolescents crave justice, ideals and knowledge in an environment of
belonging.  CES cruelly exploits those needs by never giving them a variety
of ways that each can belong in an atmosphere of responsible adult
leadership, yet turns up the heat of intolerance by preaching tolerance. 
Adults in the name of democracy abandon the opportunity to lead kids, and
kids fill the void with their own hierarchy. The system rewards and
enforces the outcome.  Then everyone sits around and scratches their head
at why the schools are strife torn.   Just think about it.  Ed deform goes
deep into the psyches of kids. As long as it flourishes, there will always
be the threat of another Columbine.


The press is downplaying yesterdays closing of Eastlake as a response to
"just a prank."  Seems the chat room threats originated at ASU where a
friend of a friend's brother at Eastlake got trashed talked.  Again the
media almost gets it.  The web site, now pulled, became the platform for
venting the rage building up in this school.  Worse yet, school
administrators stood by as "guides on the side" and watch the whole thing
evolve.  The anger that kids feel erupted in the anonymity of the chat room
which the high tech driven environment of Eastlake fostered.  No doubt,
administrators knew things were getting out of hand due to many complaints
from students and parents. Administrators attempted to censure the ISP, but
never notified familes. As one student noted, the atmosphere at the school
of high affluence was getting very tense for the last three weeks because
the anonymous postings were expressing all the suppressed rage EHS fosters.
 Where is the adult leadership??? A la Sizer, completely checked out.  I
hope the families of EHS pull their heads out of the golden sand of Sahalee
and wake up.  Their school is out of control.