04-20-2007, 03:53 PM
Many teacher friends at highschool and college level have been discussing this incident on boards I belong to. They all agree on several things: for one, all have had disturbing students like Cho. All agree that there is very little they can do about such students, other than recommend help. A few have requested that these students be removed from their classes, but even that is a tricky step, because the students or their parents can, and will, sue. Schools are terrified of lawsuits. To compound the matter if, like Cho, the student is non-Caucasian, he will certainly charge the teacher and the school with racism, which is death to an academic career. Amid all the finger-pointing and charging that "something should have been done before this could happen," nobody seems to be saying what could have been done. The days are past when guys in white coats with nets and straitjackets could be called in to haul off a deranged individual.
Pecunia non olet
