I've mentioned Mickie Reed before. My fifth grade teacher and one of the seven great influences in my life, Mrs. Reed taught me how important

learning was and that why

is the most important word.

Fifth grade was where I first learned a significant amount about the American Civil War (or as most of us call it; the War of Northern Aggression). For all the kids in Mrs. Reed's class, studying the War Between the States was the first real opportunity to be exposed to action adventure that didn't involve Saturday afternoon movies.

There was no Discovery or History channels back then, and none of us were previously aware of how exciting the past could be. No one ever talked about diagramming sentences during recess or debated the multiplication tables.

During history class that year we argued about tactics and discussed where and how the war was lost. I found out Nathan Bedford Forrest was a military genius and left handed. He became and remains my favorite Civil War personality. Mostly because of Mrs. Reed and the national impact of the conflict, the War Between the States continues to grab my attention.

So I got excited when I read that Appleton, Wisconsin includes a Civil War program each year to coincide with the study of the conflict by middle school students. This program has been a part of school activities for a long time and includes a short re- enactment of what a battle was like. The actual battle segment

is usually the most popular part of the program.

I was temporarily jealous; then I read the rest of the story.

This year, bowing to a few complaints from parents and a school district policy "relating to weapons," the battle portion has been cancelled. War isn't pretty, but it is history, and the war that killed more Americans than any other needs to be discussed honestly. Censoring the fighting makes it seem like an Ivy League football game.

After the Columbine school killings ten years ago, experts all over TV began blaming rock and roll, bullying, the internet, and guns for the horrible event and others like it.

Never mind that kids have listened to rock & roll for decades, millions more surf the net, and everyone who ever attended a public school has been bullied. And if all the kids who lived in a home with guns were transformed into violent killers, we would be very sparsely populated right now.

School districts all over the country began enacting CYOAF rules to insure that if something bad occurred in their town, the blame could be shifted away from those policy makers. No common sense about real causes was allowed. Idiotic results from those decisions have been happening for a decade. Appleton is just the latest example.

Now a book by Peter Langman offers a different opinion. After studying the Colorado killers and many other young murderers, Langman writes that children who decide to kill innocent people for some perceived slight are mentally ill. Normal people don't do that; even if influenced by evil internet messages.

What a unusual idea; personal responsibility. Next some guy will claim war involves people dying.