Murdered by Headmaster

[onlymark]

On browsing through the news stories this morning I came across the following report -

abcnews.go.com/Health/father-suicide-teen-groton-overreacted-bully-accusation/story?id=12005801&page=1

What it is on about is how a pupil at an exclusive school 'bullied' another pupil by doctoring photos or drew cartoons with a homophobic content concerning the second pupil.
The offender was threatened with exclusion which could be avoided by the father withdrawing the pupil from the school instead.
The pupil, Hunter Perkins, 16, then used his dead mothers gun to commit suicide.

The father has accused the headmaster of 'murdering' his son because of political correctness.

This incident has me thinking on a lot of levels.
First, I hate political correctness, or at least the extremes it has gone to.
I also hate bullies.
I also hate the gun culture in the USA.
I also hate the way no one takes responsibility for their actions and are too ready to blame someone else.

So - I ask myself, how bad was the photo altering or cartoon? Was it the first 'offence'? If it was I presume the school has the oft phrased 'zero tolerance policy' as regards these sorts of things.
In any case I'd be inclined to agree with the exclusion of the offending pupil(s) or at least a ban for a period of time.

Was it bullying? I suppose to the strict letter of the definition it was, but if it was an isolated incident, nothing prior to this, then to me bullying entails a series of occurrences by the bully, or things inflicted upon the victim by others as well. So I'm not sure if it is really or not.

The gun - why the bloody hell do you keep the gun of your dead wife around the house where a 16 year old, or in fact anyone, can get at it. Was it loaded? Where did the ammo come from? Was it kept separate?
Why do you keep the gun anyway?
Why on earth do you need a gun in the first place? You are stupid if you think it 'saves lives' and is used for defence.

Finally - clearly the father wont acknowledge that his son has done wrong. Fair enough that the result of his wrongdoing shouldn't end up in his suicide, but at least the father shouldn't blame the headmaster for murdering his son because the son was being excluded.
Come off it.

And - "taking anti-depressants, and he'd seen a psychiatrist only hours before he shot himself."
Was any of this taken in to account if it was a first offence?
But that's another thing I hate - the all to willingness of dishing out drugs willy nilly and seeing psychiatrists at the drop of a hat. Maybe with the death of his mother he needed it, no problem then. But I'm sure there are millions of other kids who have lost their mothers and don't resort to anti-depressants etc.

That'll do for now.

[Deleted]

Okay, I'll give you my take on this. firstly, it made me very feel sad, a child taking his own life is the most tragic thing that can happen.

The father of the boy is lashing out, at the headmaster, but he's probably also lashing out at everyone else too, that we don't see. He must be going through hell. That I can understand, any parent would feel the same.

I doubt the father of the boy is thinking logically at all, he just wants answers, he wants someone to blame, he wants to know why. Wrapped in all this he must feel extremely guilty too, what could they he done to stop this? Why was the gun accessible? He wants to blame someone.

The boy was right to be suspended for what he did, but that alone wouldn't have been enough to make him take his life. What other factors were there that we don't know about? When a child bullies, he or she is unhappy with themselves, and if the child was already having emotional problems that might have added to what he did. The fact that his mother has passed away might have been the root of many of his problems.

No, the headmaster was not to blame, but more kindness and understanding could have been shown to the boy, in light of the fact that he had lost his mom and was going through such a hard time. Agree about the gun, it should have been locked away. And far, far away if you have people who are having mental or emotional problems who could easily get hold it it. That's just common sense. The USA and Canada does have a big gun culture. Where I live nearly every one own a rifle (or two or three), yes including us.

Common sense and taking responsibly for them is what counts. Making sure the people who use them have the right training and know what they are doing. If in doubt they should be thrown out.

[hwinpp]

Did there use to be teen suicides at this level 20 or 30 years ago? When it was even easier to get a gun? Or would cases like this not have been reported in the press?

[Deleted]

The real story is often hidden under layers of conscious or unconscious lies. My own intuitive analysis is that the father is to blame -- either for making his son so insecure to begin with, or because he threatened his son with additional punishment.