The shooting rampage at Columbine High School, in which 25 people died, represents vividly the institution of the family in crisis. When a tragedy such as this incident occurs, one turns immediately to the parents of the child or children who had committed these heinous crimes. The article, ôWhoÆs Guilty?ö in the U.S. News, written by Joannie M. Schrof (1999), discusses the parentsÆ responsibility in their childrenÆs crimes. In this article, the writer describes the wave of lawsuits and parental laws against these parents, which are sweeping across the nation. Another solution discussed is the use of family counseling or parenting classes.
However, by targeting the parents and pinning the burden solely on them may be insufficient, or even useless in preventing further outbreaks of school shootings. There are forces larger than the parents, which are influencing the actions of these children. Because of social, economic and demographic changes, the significance of the institution of the family has diminished over the years. Increasingly, the role of the family has been replaced by the institutions of schools, experts from psychological fields, popular music, film, television and the Internet. No longer do people live in a tiny ethnic enclave, dependent upon other family members for our socio-economic support; now the world has metamorphosed into a melting-pot society, where a diversity of ideas and culture blend and collide. The information superhighway facilitates the communication of ideas and builds bridges between people from all parts of the world.
Even the shape and face of the family are transformed: the extended family has given way to not only conventional nuclear families with a husband, wife and children, but also to families with households headed by a divorced parent, pre-marital couples, gay couples (Hacker, 1997), and domestic kinship networks (Stack, 1974). People today no longer adhere to the traditional ...