The Value of Voice: Promoting Peace through Teaching and Writing

Abstract

incident in the form of copycat threats, students were riding an emotional roller-coaster. At the high school, an unknown author wrote messages on the bathroom walls that gave a date and a threat that jocks would be the targets of some sort of violence. The day of doom passed peacefully (with an absence list a mile long), while the person responsible for the writings was never discovered. Meanwhile, one of the junior high schools in our district was receiving phone calls in which an individual was making equally sinister threats. After several evacuations and weeks of investigations, the teenage culprit who made those calls, and singlehandedly caused the chaos and fear that led to thousands of dollars in security costs, was taken into custody at the juvenile justice center. Though tragic shooting sprees and their aftermath have gained national attention fairly recently, I first began thinking deeply about shocking outbursts of violence seven years ago, after a student in my classroom smashed the fingers of a student next to him with the chunky heel of his cowboy boot. While working at a nearby restaurant on evening, this angry young man, furious for being disciplined for what he had done, proceeded to tell an audience of students of his intentions to