Warning Signs?

This is a touchy topic, but I feel like my blog wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention it. I heard the following from a student a couple of weeks ago:

"Teacher! Sometimes I dream that the English academy is on fire. I dream this five nights a week."

Another student wrote the following sentence in his vocabulary book:

"I massacre [sic] many people in the building."

And another student wrote not one, but two vocabulary sentences about Hitler. This is paradoxical; many of the students idolize Truman for dropping the atomic bombs on Japan yet few of them seem to be able to make the connection between Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

Korea seems to lack America's "zero tolerance" policy for violent behavior from children. Many students here - particularly the boys - would have ended up in a straight jacket in the States. I used to think that is was absurd that kids who pointed their fingers ("BANG!") would get expelled. However, I am no longer so sure. The behavior and writings of Seung-Hui Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter, would hardly seem out of place here, which leads me to believe that it's better to be safe than sorry. If you forbid any type of violent speech or behavior, the normal kids will cut it out while the real psychos will rise into view.

I suppose the major difference is that in this country, no aspiring school shooters can get their hands on semi-automatic handguns and hollow point bullets. Perhaps leaders in the U.S. should focus less on shadow-puppet guns and more on the real ones.