Nobody Left to Hate: Teaching Compassion After Columbine

by Elliot Aronson

Book Overview

On April 20, 1999, the halls of Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, reverberated with the sound of gunshots as two students, highly armed and consumed with rage, killed thirteen students and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0716741326
• ISBN13: 9780716741329
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Worth Publishers
• Length: 194 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 7.6"

Customer Reviews

Has America's Culture of Hate finally Metastasized?

As one with great respect for Professor Aronson's work; one who has read and reviewed several of his other books, and one who also respects and believes that the practical advice given here as part of his "Jigsaw technique" is both sage and useful, I still believe the Professor's solution too is but a "stop gap," or to use his own phrase, a "pump handle," solution. No one would know better than he that the title of this book "Nobody left to Hate," has a much deeper meaning in a culture that virtually runs on hatred -- mostly racial and political hatred. Surely this dramatic instance of school violence in Littleton, Colorado, was not (as almost everyone at first assumed it to be), just another isolated case of "white kids gone wild" in the classroom. The fact that as of today it has been repeated in more than a dozen cases, almost certainly means that it has a much deeper cultural meaning. As an ex-Professor at the University of Denver, just up the street from Littleton, myself, I have a special and deep interest in the events that took place at Columbine. But as noted above, subsequent history has confirmed that Columbine was far from an isolated incident. So lets get serious here: All of these "so-called school crimes" have had a distinct tribal and gender coloration to them: Psychologically, they can all be neatly categorized as "white male crimes of youthful existential desperation," period. Indeed, one might reasonably ask: Why is it so difficult for Americans to see the connection between school bullying, taunting, threats, humiliation, physical abuse and violence, social isolation, and overt attempts to dehumanize and exclude others, given our long history and practice of doing so through racism and racial degradation? Surely those who reside outside our borders would readily see this not so deeply embedded connection: that the actions of these "young white men to be" are just the unresolved residual feelings of the lost of white racist entitlements being discharged by other means. In short, anyone but we Americans with our cultural blinders in the "on" position can readily see that these, and many other exclusively "white male self-destructive tribal behaviors," are just another of the many fruits of a racist culture, slowly tamping down and transitioning into what hopefully will be a post-racist society. That we are becoming a "post-racist society is perhaps the only silver lining there is in these events, and this analysis of our culture is all so self-evident, that it makes me worry about the collective sanity of the nation I love so dearly. But putting a much more graphic face on the analysis that is missing from this book, one need to look carefully at the new socially defined "unacceptable others" of any high school environment. These days, those who do not fit the consensus view of what it means to "be properly peer adjusted" are summarily place outside the "in" circle. That is to say, "being in" among today's teens, means

Good thoughts!

As a seventh grade mathematics teacher, studying to be a school counselor, I found this book to be helpful. It is an easy read and offers, not only a clinical explanation why Eric and Dylan did what they did, but suggests ways to transform the atmosphere in schools so there will less likely be another event like Columbine. Unfortunately, Aronson only suggests two possible solutions for transforming the school atmosphere; increase emotional intelligence and implementing the "jigsaw" method of teaching. I agree, teachers should implement "teachable moments" on empathy so that there is nobody left to hate, but I often find it difficult when teaching algebra to use the "jigsaw" method. As I start the new year, with this book in mind, I plan to do more cooperative group work, however, it would also be nice to have other "tricks" up my sleeve to create empathy and a less competitive classroom.

Saving our School Children

This is a great book. It is perhaps the most important book I have read in the past five years. Elliot Aronson, an internationally renowned social psychologist provides us with a brilliant analysis of the causes of the epidemic of lethal violence in our schools and with some tried and true solutions to the problem. Eschewing the simple solutions like metal detectors and posting the Ten Commandments, he goes right to the heart of the matter--arguing convincingingly that in order to reduce violence in schools we must deal directly with the poisonous atmosphere of exclusion, taunting and bullying. We must not only teach reading, writing and arithmatic, we must also teach, cooperation, compassion and empathy.His solution: We can achieve all of these things while, at the same time, improving academic performance. This can be done by employing the jigsaw method of instruction. This is a strategy which places students in small cooperative learning groups where students must cooperate with one another in order to learn the day's lesson. In the course of working together, they learn to respect one another, care about one another--even if they are from different background and different ethnic groups. Twenty-five years of careful scientific research in dozens of scools shows that jigsaw works! If all schools used the jigsaw at least some of the time, there would never be another Columbine tragedy. The jigsaw technique can be used by any teacher. Detailed instructions are available free on the Internet.Nobody Left to Hate is must reading for teachers, parents and concerned citizens. The book is a delight to read: it reads like an exciting novel and it teaches like a master teacher. Thank you, Professor Aronson for a remarkable gift!

A hateful place

Someone has said that every complicated problem has a simple solution-- and it is wrong. Barbers, editorial writers and other purveyors of simple solutions have said that school shootings, such as the one at Columbine High School in Colorado, can be prevented by posting the Ten Commandments, reinstituting school prayer, or kicking out "weird" students. Eliot Aronson, a prominent social psychologist, offers a more sophisticated analysis of school violence. He reminds us that in American high schools, bullying, sarcasm, threats, humiliation, physical abuse, and social isolation are commonplace. It is an atmosphere in which even favored students must tred lightly or risk exile. The shooters are nearly always those who have been pushed by their peers to the outside. Educators seldom contribute to this hostile environment directly, but they often do little to change it. Aronson suggests some concrete steps that can be taken. In particular, he advocates that part of the school day be set aside for cooperative forms of learning. Aronson devised one form of cooperative learning, the jigsaw method, for the express purpose of reducing tensions in the process of teaching regular subjects. The jigsaw method requires students who are not members of the same clique to work together for their mutual benefit. It has been found to reduce tensions and improve the social status of "outsiders." This is NOT group therapy or social engineering; it is a way of teaching regular content that helps bring students together. Whether cooperative teaching methods will substantially reduce the frequency of school violence is uncertain. But Aronson has at least put his finger on the central problem, the fact that our high schools are places that generate hate. I think every high school teacher and parent in the country should read this book. We need to get past the simplistic solutions. (For more on this book, see my review in the September, 2000 issue of Psychology Today.)

A real solution

Finally, a book that crosses all ethnic, moral, legal, and political lines regarding violence, hatred and intolerance. "Nobody Left to Hate" offers clear insight into our social delima, not only in schools, but in the general population as well. Most importantly, it provides solutions that are doable no matter what walk of life you come from.