In a three-part essay titled “Our Killing Schools,” The Redneck Intellectual, C. Bradley Thompson, provides a philosophical explanation that goes to the root cause of school shootings—Progressive education.
In the final essay of the series, Thompson writes,
The crisis of America’s teenage boys is a philosophic crisis. The cognitive consequence of Progressive education—if not the intent—is to retard the reasoning minds of our children and to deform their moral constitutions.
When a student is taught that his own mind is impotent, feelings become his primary consideration. When a student is taught to think only about the immediate moment, he does not consider the long-term consequences of his actions. When a student is taught that moral judgement is evil, he is likely to conclude that there is no objective right and wrong. Psychologically, any vestiges of self-esteem are erased by the relentless demands to conform to the group. At the bottom of this intellectual abyss is nihilism.
As his anxiety and anger build, he transforms his feelings into action. He lashes out, and his target is the source of his angst—his school. He responds by putting into practice what he has been taught by Progressive education.
Of course, only a small number of teenagers respond by shooting up their school. Thompson’s goal is not to explain why certain teenagers snap and others don’t. His goal is to show that school shootings are a logical outcome of Progressive education.
Thompson provides compelling evidence from the diaries and writings of multiple school shooters. Time and again, they express contempt for their fellow students and announce their hatred of life. One example comes from Alex Hribal who stabbed twenty students and a security guard at his high school in 2014. In his diary, Hribal wrote, “All this was caused by the dehumanization of public school.”
Thompson concludes his essay with a challenge for the entire nation.
The time has come for ordinary Americans to make a choice: you must choose between the physical, psychological, intellectual and moral wellbeing of your children, or you must choose to continue supporting the government school system and all that entails. You can’t have both.