Educators, researchers, and policy types around the world admire (and envy) Finland’s students, who repeatedly demonstrate remarkable academic prowess on international assessments. [Finland, in fact, won the most medals in our recent Education Olympics event .] Unfortunately, though, Finnish students are not immune to the school and university tragedies that have become all too typical in the U.S.  Just yesterday outside Helsinki, a young college student went on a shooting rampage at his small campus, killing nine of his classmates and himself. This follows a school massacre last November, in which an 18-year-old high school student also killed nine of his classmates. Both young men posted disturbing YouTube videos alluding to their violent intentions.

Teams of psychologists and social workers have descended upon the campus. Witnesses tell stories of the gunman firing at helpless students and staff. The Finnish government questions its gun ownership laws. A community tries to deal with the shock. An all too familiar storyline for Americans.

In our zeal to discover, replicate, and bottle the magic and mystery that is the Finnish educational system, let’s not forget one thing:  Even though they are academic superstars, Finnish students are still just kids, dealing with many of the societal devastations that likewise affect their American peers.

Bravo to Andres Alonso, Baltimore’s schools superintendent, for launching a campaign to recruit 500 volunteers to work in the city’s schools. It’s one of his smartest responses to last week’s horrible teacher attack (his other was declaring “zero tolerance” for that sort of violence). Alonso’s spokesman says that “people want to help, and they want a concrete way to help.”

Indeed. To be sure, Baltimore needs a broad-based, systematic approach to solving its discipline problems. (Consider that students have been expelled 112 times this year alone for attacking teaches.) But rallying parents and the larger community is smart. Perhaps Alonso, a long-time New Yorker, remembers the public’s overwhelming interest in doing something to help after the 9/11 attacks. Or learned from the Bush Administration’s failure to enlist the public in making sacrifices or performing community service in a time of war. Whatever his thinking, it shows great leadership to turn an awful incident into an opportunity for positive action.

Apparently, it’s the teacher’s fault when students assault them in the classroom—that’s how it is, at least, at Reginald F. Lewis High School in Baltimore. Last week, The Baltimore Sun reported that Jolita Berry, after asking a girl in her art class to sit down, was confronted by the student, who threatened to beat her up.

According to Berry, she warned the student: “Back up, you’re in my space. If you hit me, I’m gonna defend myself.”

But she didn’t protect herself. Instead, egged on by classmates, the student viciously pummeled Berry, who lay on the ground defenseless as someone videotaped the ghastly attack on his or her cell phone. The incident was later posted on MySpace.

What’s scandalous is not just that a teacher was beaten to a pulp, or that most students in the classroom can be seen reveling in this act of barbarism, but that Berry—not the assailant—was blamed by the principal, Jean Ragin, for having “triggered” the incident by saying she would defend herself. The assault—and the principal’s irresponsible and cowardly response—has rightly outraged concerned parents, including Baltimore’s mayor, Sheila Dixon.

“That principal might need to be disciplined because no teacher should be disrespected in the classroom,” Dixon said at a morning news conference last week.

Dixon added that Ragin’s response was “unfair to that teacher.” That’s putting it mildly.

Adding insult to injury, Berry says that the principal refused to remove the student from school grounds after the assault. Hence, when Berry was being taken out of the school to get medical treatment she had to face the student in the hallway, snickering and bragging to friends.

No teacher should have to endure this kind of humiliation. When a violent culture takes root in a school, it spreads like a cancer. This is why decisive action needs to be taken immediately: The student should be expelled, Ragin should be replaced, and a new principal should be brought in to enforce a zero-tolerance policy on school violence. The message needs to be loud and clear: Assaulting teachers is unacceptable under any circumstances. This time, Ms. Berry walked away with a sore shoulder and a broken blood vessel in her eye. Next time she, or some other teacher at Reginald Lewis High, may not be so fortunate.