In the many public institutions and colleges, people undergo stereotyping. In fact, in today’s societies, stereotypes have become so commonplace that people never realize how destructive they can be and what problems they may cause. Many students in schools are classified into groups like nerds, jocks, goths, gangsters, band geeks, cheerleaders and even druggies. Some stereo types even tie into a person’s race or social class. Stereotyping is built into so much of our society that many students go too far and cause problems that gain national attention.

What problems am I talking about? I am talking about the recent rise in school shootings. Whether it is the Virginia Tech Massacre or Columbine incident, police and detectives alike have said that both of these situations were caused by a form of stereotyping. In both circumstances, the people involved with the killing were outcasts to the school or college’s mainstream of students by stereotypical treatment. Instead of discussing their problems with school or college officials, they believed that they had to solve the stereotyping themselves. So, what did they do? They believed the only way to shut people up was to not allow them to speak at all. Even though the number of students who decide to kill people in these situations is small, it still a wake- up call that stereotyping needs to stop. Calling people names and treating them a certain way doesn’t seem to harm people, but it could cause them to do things that may either harm themselves or others. To me, school shootings and violence in places of education can be stopped with eliminating stereotypes. If we treat each other equally, we may all find life to be better and more enjoyable. I will always remember that there were times in my life when I did know it all, wasn’t popular, or had a name like “geek”, and my friends helped me through, taught me to care and showed me that we are all sharing this world together.