Columbine left its indelible mark on pop culture

[Frank W. Baker]

A CNN news story: The massacre of students and a teacher within the seemingly safe hallways of Columbine High School has generated a lot of creations from artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers over the past decade.

[Megan Lucas]

Yes, it has also made a large impact on art making in the classroom. I recall being in high school at the time of the tradgedy and seeing a large crack down on the content of the art that students made in art class. It was not a regulation made by the art teacher herself, but a mandate by the school to question any type of image that was created that may allude to violence.

I find it is still very much the same today as I am an art educator. Many of my fellow art educators do not have particular mandates from their schools, but they each have their own degrees of censorship they apply to students' art work. I find that most of this is out of fear of the adminstration since many educators I have spoken with find certain types of images (super heroes with weapons or dinosaurs eating people) common among most children. However, severly disturbing images must be addressed.