I was reading Slashdot earlier today, and found a link to Kotaku with a story about a high school student being arrested for making a counter-strike map of his highschool. Oh, and they found a weapon in his room too—a hammer. Yes, the kid who was playing video games had a god damn hammer in his room! Perhaps authorities in Texas have prevented the worlds for School Hammering.
But really, this is just an example of the kneejerk reaction to the Virgina State shootings. I remember the same thing after Columbine back in ‘99. I was still at Yorktown High School when it happened, but I moved down to my dad’s that summer to attend Columbus North. And about a month into that new school year, one of the teachers hasseled a student for wearing a black trenchcoat during lunch. I really didn’t know him, but I stood up for him on the principle of it all. I asked her if she had a problem with the green trailblazer I was wearing, and she said no. Then I asked why there was a problem with a trenchcoat and she simply said “Columbine.” That upset me because, I knew the kid wasn’t a great student, and I know he had some problems, but no one should be labeled simply because of how they dress. If that teacher was any good, she would have talked to that student, and tried to understand why he wore a black tenchcoat a year after the massacre.
But, back to this kid arrested for making a map level for counterstrike. There’s nothing inherently wrong with doing that. I remember making a (crappy) Duke Nukem level of my middle school, and all I was told is “Wow, that’s neat”. But a few years later, a high school senior puts his talents to work, and models his school, and he’s investigated for being a terrorist? What’s this world coming to?
And to top it off, the student can’t walk during graduation, and has been placed in an alternative learning environment. From reading various stories about this topic, he seemed to be a normal, well-liked kid too. So in the infinate wisdom of the Ft. Bend school system, this well-liked , normal kid is now spending his last few weeks of highschool in the presence of drug dealers and the other undesireables in such alternative schools.
But what is he guilty of? Maybe he did have bad taste, but from all accounts, this level was created months ago, before the world knew of Cho and Virgina Tech. It didn’t seem to bother anyone months ago, but suddenly there’s a problem? The problem isn’t with the high school student making a level for a game; it’s with us. It’s our willingness to have a kneejerk reaction to events.
It’s akin to passing the PATRIOT act as soon after 9/11 as possible. Yes, 9/11 was a terrible day, but the day when we signed over rights to protect ourselves from terror was also a terrible day.
In the wake of last month’s shooting, we really need to ask ourselves how we should react to events like this. Increasing gun control isn’t merely the solution, as high school kids, like the one they feared here, aren’t allowed to purchase fire arms. We need to calm down, take a breath, and remember that our actions have consequences.
In this situation, the actions of this school board, might or might not affect this student’s chances for college. If a college sees that he was suspended, and redirected to another learning environment, might they rescind his offers to attend the college in fear of another Cho? Or what about scholarships he was granted? Will they still be in effect giving his new status?
We seriously need to think before acting, and remember what ill effects can come from acting emotionally and impulsively.