MICHIGAN CHAPTER

Education secretary: Guns not to blame in shootings

March 11, 2001

Web posted at: 6:34 PM EST (2334 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Students' "alienation and rage" is the biggest factor in

school shootings, Education Secretary Rod Paige said Sunday, and addressing

that problem, rather than changing gun laws, should be the country's

priority.

Last week, students were shot in schools in California and Pennsylvania,

including the suburban San Diego high school where two students were killed

and 13 other people wounded.

Paige said guns cannot take blame because there have been reports of

students plotting violence with bombs and other devices. Regardless, he

said, "We need to look to the cause of the situation."

"Probably the biggest problem we have is the amount of alienation and rage

in our young people," Paige said on CBS' "Face The Nation."

"We think just focusing on guns is much too narrow, it's beyond guns. The

guns may be the instrument of the violence, but they're not the cause of the

violence," Paige said on CNN's "Late Edition."

Paige recommended more after-school programs and parental involvement, and

character education.

He said in President Bush's administration, religious-based organizations

will get a chance to reach more children in after-school programs.

Paige, the former Houston schools chief, also said Bush wants to expand

character education. Congress created a pilot program for that purpose in

1994.

Bush told Congress last month that he wanted to triple funds for character

education "to teach our children not only reading and writing, but right

from wrong."

"Character education offers an opportunity to teach kids things like

empathy, compassion, tolerance -- all values that we all know are

wonderful," Paige said on CBS.

After the Santana High School shootings on March 5, Paige issued a statement

urging "every parent and every student to listen closely to children who

express concern, anger or fear concerning their school, their teachers and

their classmates."

Charles Andrew Williams, 15, a freshman, surrendered after allegedly firing

more than 30 shots in and around a boy's bathroom. He is being held on

murder and other charges stemming from the shooting.

Also last week, an eighth-grade Pennsylvania girl was accused of shooting

one of her classmates in the shoulder in a school cafeteria.

Attorney General John Ashcroft said there have been many programs to keep

guns out of schools but they "don't seem to be capable of excluding the

potential for violence."

"I think we have to understand that students can help, parents can help, and

our culture probably can help by not so insistently suggesting ... that

violence is the way to resolve disputes," Ashcroft said on ABC's "This

Week."