I was shocked, angered and dismayed when I read the story of eleven third-graders plotting to kill their teacher.

They had it planned right down to assigning of the conspirators to clean up the blood!

These are eight and nine year old children—right about the same age as three of my grandchildren.

Parents allow televisions to be babysitters and don’t pay attention to what their children are watching. Or they encourage their children to “fight back” in school if someone does something to them instead of going to the teacher or principal to report that grievous act.

When I was doing some reading tutoring while my older granddaughter was in third grade I had a girl from her class who was definitely not interested in learning. She would lay her head and upper body on the reading table while she was supposed to be reading and I had to keep reminding her to sit up so she could concentrate.

She would mispronounce words and I would tell her the correct pronunciation over and over again to no avail.

When she finished reading a book (a chore in and of itself) she was to take a test to see how much she retained.

I would drill her on the book and what the theme was, who the characters were, what they did etc. She was shaky on the facts and didn’t seem upset but was determined to take the computerized test.

When she took the test she failed it everytime but once.

She caused disruption in the classroom to the point the teacher had to seat her by herself a lot. I was there for a Christmas decoration project where the children were to paint a plaster of paris object and saw her disruptive actions in the group we both happened to be in.

It was then that I heard another boy mention the show “Southpark” and this girl lit up like a Christmas tree and recited all her favorite episodes along with other shows that were not age-appropriate for her.

When asked if she was encouraged to do her homework at home the answer was no.

This was not a deprived child as far as where she lived, the clothing she had etc., but it was obvious her parents didn’t take the responsibility of making sure their child was sociable and educated.

Leave it up to the teachers. If the kids don’t like the teacher then they can form a gang and plot to kill the teacher, right down to planning who cleans up the blood.

What have a segment of our parents done to make our children this violent?

Something has to be done to stop it, but I don’t have the answers. I’m too flabbergasted by what I just read.