No one has yet blamed Jared Loughner’s teachers for his violent mind-set and actions in Arizona, but teachers and parents have long been aware that inflammatory rhetoric can spark agitation in children. Did increasingly hostile political rhetoric incite Loughner to violence? Of course not — we know that from exhaustive studies of children exposed to television and video game violence. But we still bear a responsibility to teach and model civil discourse. Does Sarah Palin’s “take back the 20” Web site bear any responsibility for the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords? Again, the answer is no. The word “target” has become a metaphor in recent years: We target cancer cells with chemotherapy, we target underperforming students for special help in improving test scores, we target certain audiences in public relations. Only someone who is unbalanced would assume that the word equated to gunfire.

Yet in our need for an explanation after any horrific event, we blame parents or teachers or fellow students or the media for the aberrant behavior of one. Still, as a teacher committed to classroom civility, I know that the tone we model for our youth does have lasting effects. And it’s tone, even more than rhetoric, that we can control.