I feel extremely sorry for the friends and families of the victims. But I think spending time trying to pin what happened on the school and authorities is a cop out. This kid's problems should have been addressed by his family and friends long before he got to the point where he flipped out.

When I was a kid there was a universal expectation that I would conform to societies rules and that I should be "ashamed" and expect to be "disciplined" if I didn't. I was taught the rules and disciplined for breaking them by virtually everyone... my parents, relatives, teachers, neighbors, storekeepers, and virtually any adult that saw me violate the expected rules of conduct.

Now. before you get on a soapbox about how "beating a kid never solved anything", forget it. I'm not talking about whipping kids. I'm talking about adults feeling responsible to take action. I'm talking about parents, teachers, ministers, friends, neighbors, shopkeepers, etc. taking the time to take some action which helped teach me right from wrong... taking the time to demand and teach me respect, taking the time to care about me as much as they cared about themselves and their own kids. And most of all, taking the time to feel that they were responsible to help make society work. They didn't stand around and wait for my parents or the authorities to catch me throwing rocks or beating up the neighbor kid or anything else... they took immediate hands-on action and then told my parents to make sure I'd get another dose of discipline when I got home. Nobody called the cops. Nobody was concerned that they'd embarrass me. Nobody sued anybody for calling me an idiot or a moron when I did something wrong or illegal or got my a$$ hammered at school for breaking the rules. And I don't recall a single case of a kid being "abused" in this process. The net effect for all us kids back then was that we learned respect for others, we felt responsible for our actions, and differences of opinion were usually resolved without anyone doing anything really offensive.

When I was a kid everyone I knew had guns. At the age of 12 I could buy ammunition and dynamite at the local hardware store. Most boys carried a penknife. There were no "written" rules of conduct at school.. we all knew what was expected because our parents and teachers told us and we knew we better conform or else. I watched hundreds of cowboys and gangsters get shot every week on TV... mysteriously I, nor anyone I knew, ever shot, knifed, or blew up anyone. Kids who refused to live by the rules and be responsible for their own actions were sent to reform schools, military schools, etc.

IMHO, the USA has indeed become a populace of, as Kriton said, "sheeple"... everyone waiting for someone else to take action. And when something goes wrong, we've become a society that looks immediately for someone to blame... I say look in the mirror.