And Drtooth, I feel your argument is full of flaws. Seriously, you feel that EVERY student that does terribly on a test should have psychological evaluations? I'm sorry but that's not the answer. Sure, there is depression and suicide but there are other warning signs to be aware of. Failing a test ISN'T one of them. I've failed tests in the past and sure I was down about a little bit but in the end I moved on and tried harder. The same can be said about thousands of other students who also believe that failing a test isn't the end of the world.
There's a difference between failing a test and a major exam. Failing a major exam can destroy your education, your potential career, and even your future. Unless you're lucky enough to have the money to retake a class and have another semester, you're totally screwed. A test... oh, you can take that again. This wasn't a test... this was a
major grade that was the only thing standing in the way of him getting a PhD.
Think of it this way. The look of pure anger and disappointment in your parents face, the fact that you're probably going to have to work the rest of your life in minimum wage jobs and have to pay student loans you'll never get under control. That sense of pure dread... that's not something that's easy to shake off. He clearly worked hard to get to where he was, and something knocked him hard.
And frankly, that pressure DOES get to people. Again, MIT had a huge suicide rate that had to be dealt with. Would you be able to shake off losing your life's dream you worked hard for?
All I'm saying is college culture needs to change, not because of some killer, but because it's a LOUSY culture. I hated it, every one I knew that wasn't the professor's pet hated it. I passed the whole thing by the seat of my pants, and I got nothing out of it but debt.
Yes, the warning signs are there and should be looked out for but that doesn't mean EVERY student is that way. Stop blaming the school for this tragedy. Blame the man who actually committed the horrendous act.
Listen... sure.. just blame the killer. That's a sound judgement, sure... but every time something like this happens
there's a lesson to be learned. And we have yet to learn it. Mental illness DOES screw people up. And what came out of all these tragedies? Columbine- the shooters had mental problems. Virginia tech- the shooter had mental problems. That army base shooter- Mental problems. All mental problems be it bullying or a traumatic event.
Why is it so wrong to bookmark various problems that lead to these things? If we actually put pieces together, we can STOP these things from happening in the future. Those who do not learn their history are DOOMED to repeat it. And we DO NOT want a repeat of this. Sure, we'll have a bunch of stupid and useless band-aid solutions, but maybe, just maybe, we can catch this sort of behavior, deny the mental atrophied advance weaponry, and get them the help they need/isolate them from society in institutions.
But no... we'd rather ignore problems and make shocked faces when it happens again.