On the surface, Kyle Zimmerman was a great kid. He was a straight-A student taking the most rigorous courses offered at his high school. He was a member of the National Honor Society, the German Honor Society and the trivia bowl team. He had Ivy-League aspirations.
But still water runs deep.
Kyle sank a butterfly knife into the belly of a cop last week, thwarting the officer's attempt to keep him out of a locked gun store. When Kyle's desire for stolen firearms escalated into violence, it put a total of three officers in the ICU.
On paper, no one would recognize Kyle's violent tendencies. He flew under the radar. His school determined which kids were headed for trouble based on their numbers; those on academic probation or with criminal records-not exactly an insignificant minority-were quicker to receive discipline.
Yet face-to-face conversations with this 17 year old hinted at his instability. He had a Hitleresque moustache, A¼ber right-wing political inclinations and a head-to-toe black wardrobe. The kid wore an NRA cap to school every day and was old Adolph for Halloween.
But he was smart. Anyone who takes calculus and conjugates German verbs in high school can darn well tell when they're feeling a little loca in la cabeza. And anyone who is in the National Honor Society has the initiative to find help when they need it.
Right?
Like Kyle, now perched on the brink of a long stint in the slammer, Duke students look pretty good on paper. If you're here, you have certain qualifications that put you a cut above your peers. And maybe you're perfectly happy as such.
Yay, you.
But for more than a few, the resume fronts a jumbled mass of-brace yourself for psychobabble-"unresolved issues." In the volatile early stages of our development as adults, trouble with relationships, family, money and identity are more common than not. And depending on your level of self-assurance, these trying circumstances may land you in the doldrums.
How do we deal? In most cases, by reaching into the grab bag of self-destructive college behaviors. Pick and choose: You've got alcohol abuse, drug addiction, chronic eating disorders, sexual promiscuity or academic apathy.
And while violence is perhaps less common in the Gothic bubble than at a big public high school, it is another option. We do these things because it's seen as easier than getting mental health help. Chances are, if you're Phi Beta Kappa or writing an honors thesis (or even if you're just an average Dukie), you probably think you're innately skilled enough to "get over it" all by yourself.
Besides, it certainly isn't "cool" to check yourself into the Betty Ford Clinic.
"I know if I'd had a gastrointestinal problem that was making me throw up four times a day, I would have gone to the doctor," a recovering bulimic told me. "But because it was a mental thing where I was forcing myself to do it-even though I knew I was unhappy-I just didn't think it was that big of a deal. I thought as soon as I figured my life out, it would just go away."
But you can't throw a kid in the funny farm for wearing black or loving Charlton Heston, and if you could, you couldn't force him to get well. Preventive defense might justify Iraq, but it's still un-P.C. on the interpersonal level. Clinical psychologists maintain that you can't will someone to get over depression or a life of unhealthy excesses-to some extent, the motivation has to come from within.
You might watch as friends entertain multiple sexual partners in a week, have multiple binge-and-purge sessions in a day or utter multiple negative thoughts in an hour. Go ahead, buy them the Chicken Soup books. Offer moral support and advice. But mostly, you're going to have to sit on your hands, honey, 'cause there ain't a whole lot you (the outsider) can do.
In some ways, counseling services on campuses have come a long way. The number of students that have taken advantage of CAPS has greatly increased in only a few years. Mad props (no pun intended).
But the number of students that remain in the dark about what CAPS is and what they do is staggering. In many ways, their presence goes only as far as their brochures, weakly attended seminars and stock-issue souvenir pens will take them.
And clinical help on high school campuses is even scarcer. School psychologists announced their presence twice during my years in Alexandria, Va., public schools-on Sept. 12, 2001, and, a few years later, the day after the violent murder of a student.
We have been so emphatic with youth drug and alcohol education in this country-from Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No!" campaign right up to the current D.A.R.E. program. And in response to the obesity scares, an onslaught of nutrition information is similarly working its way into primary and secondary school curricula. Does good mental health not also deserve credence?
Apparently not. Until it does, going to CAPS will remain the unpopular alternative to "getting waaaasted!" The stigma attached to counseling will remain firmly in place. And Kyle will be enduring years of unwanted behavioral therapy, courtesy of the Virginia Department of Corrections.
Sarah Ball is a Trinity sophomore and editorial page managing editor for The Chronicle. Her column runs every Thursday.
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