Great interview with Elinor Burkett

Great interview with Elinor Burkett, [ link via robotwisdom ]

A quote:
In the end, those kids at Columbine committed suicide. And maybe the question should not just be, Why did those kids want to kill everybody else? The question should be, Why did they want to die? Those were some pretty unhappy kids. But you’re not allowed to be unhappy in high school. If you’re not with the program, they send you to therapy, they medicate you out of it. They don’t leave you any room to just be a surly teenager.

I am thankful as hell that I was allowed to be a surly, quasi-happy teen. I was a mess, but I was never forced to put on a happy face. I was always told that life is hard. It’s normal and usual to have a stressful time as a human being. It’s reassuring in a way that you can depend on life being hard.

Another Planet: A Year in the Life of a Suburban High School looks worth a read.