The search for explanations of the recent shootings at high schools has avoided the difficult and troubling fact that they are only the most visible symptoms of a deep rift in the lives of teenagers. This in turn reflects a tendency to overvalue conformity and athletic activity according to PNS commentator Andrew Reding. Reding, vice mayor of Sanibel, Florida, is an associate editor of Pacific News Service and director, North America Project, World Policy Institute

The shootings at Columbine High School and in Georgia will soon vanish from the news -- but their underlying causes remain in place, and no one seems to want to confront what may be the most difficult issue of all.

True, the ready availability of guns was a contributing factor -- but it was a means, not the cause of the rage that erupted in murderous violence. Contributing to that rage are some deep rifts that pose a very uncomfortable question: is American popular culture contributing to those rifts by exalting some teens at the expense of others?

Listening to teenagers all over America, I hear a common refrain. They lament the killings -- but point out that they are but the most visible symptom of deep and often bitter divisions among high schoolers, between the dominant "jock" subculture, and other groups formed to provide social options for those excluded from the "in" crowd.

In my southwest Florida community, Sam, 16, wrote, "the only group I know for sure the gunmen were targeting were 'jocks,' the subculture that allow their lives to revolve around sports and being popular. The subculture that also is one of the most guilty of emotionally traumatizing any other subculture for not having the same fashion views or likes and dislikes. Jocks will make fun of another subculture just because they don't want to 'follow the crowd.' But then again, you cannot prosecute a teenager for making fun of another teenager, can you?"

Sam associates with the "Goth" subculture, as does Laurianne, my 14-year-old niece who lives in northern New York. The fact that the two Colorado mass murderers -- Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold -- hung out with the Goth group at Columbine has led to nationwide suspicion of Goths. And indeed the black clothing they favor, to say nothing of the Marilyn Manson music, lends itself to misunderstanding and prejudice. Yet, as these teens have impressed upon me, nothing about their Goth subculture sanctions murder.

More to the point, aren't the Goths, like the "punks" and the "hippies" that preceded them, a healthy adolescent response to mainstream culture's infatuation with jocks? In American popular culture, constantly reinforced by Hollywood and countless parents, it's the football quarterback or cheerleader who is the role model and idol. Columbine prided itself on that model -- "Go Team!"

The problem is that the team mentality promotes conformity and shuns or ridicules those -- the majority -- who either cannot be, or choose not to be, part of the team. No one is more vulnerable to exclusion than adolescents, who are dealing with issues of identity, sexuality, social acceptance, and self-esteem.

Goths, like the punks and hippies that preceded them, have adapted by constructing a "counter-culture" -- a subculture centered on values and role models that are the opposite of -- and often mock -- those of the dominant subculture. In so doing, they provide a refuge from the "emotionally traumatizing" effects of the jock subculture.

It is too easy to blame the high school shootings on emotionally-deranged adolescents, particularly after a string of incidents at high schools in

comfortable communities nationwide.

Isn't it time to ask why we put high school athletes on such a high pedestal? Shouldn't we as a society give comparable recognition to high school intellectuals or to nonconformists who distinguish themselves in other ways? Why favor some teens at the expense of others? And why, if we're so worried about poor overall test scores and academic performance, do we continue to sneer at the "nerds" who are actually concentrating on getting an education?

In Europe and Asia, the reverse is true. Growing up in Belgium, I was valued for my intellectual capabilities until I moved to the United States, where all of a sudden those same skills shoved me to the bottom of the social pyramid.

What are we encouraging with such attitudes? Above all, the United States is the land of the First Amendment. This is a nation founded by nonconformists. Why, then, seek conformity in our high schools? And why, but oh why, pick on the adolescent nonconformists? The kids with the guts to challenge orthodoxies? They are arguably our greatest resource.