Teenage terrorism. (last word).

As another school year is getting under way, I want to propose a lesson plan for teachers and administrators. It deals with three stories of gender stereotyping against four teenagers. It's also about the five victims who were lost in the wake of those stereotypes. Too often we shrug off stereotypes and name-calling as just another part of growing up. But these stories prove that this can't be further from the truth.

First there is the story of 13-year-old Aaron Vays, which was told in the August 4 Sunday magazine of The New York Times. Aaron, who is straight, moved with his parents from his native Russia to Rockland County, N.Y., so he could better pursue a career in figure skating, a sport at which he is reportedly very, very good.

But once his schoolmates learned that Aaron figure-skated, they tilled his days with taunts and teasing that soon turned into punches, tripping, and finally group beatings. Instead of disciplining the bullies, school officials transferred Aaron to another school.

That didn't help much, of course. Aaron was soon spotted practicing his jumps at the local rink by boys on the ice hockey team. They told him that only sissies, girls, communists, and fags figure-skated. Shortly thereafter, a group of schoolmates beat Aaron so badly that he was hospitalized.

Then there is the the story of Charles "Andy" Williams, which reminds us that there are victims on both sides of stereotypes. Williams was sentenced August 15 to 50 years in prison for a March 2001 school shooting in Santee, Calif., that left two of his schoolmates dead.

Williams told authorities after the shooting that he was frequently taunted as "wimp" and "bitch" by classmates. While he said he didn't know exactly what sparked his outburst, there is little doubt that it was connected to the frequent intimidation he suffered at school.

Finally, let's look at the story of two transgendered girls, Ukea Davis, 18, and Stephanie Thomas, 19. Both had dropped out of their Washington, D.C., high school because, in large part, of the regular harassment they suffered at the hands of classmates. Nevertheless, they were working to secure full-time jobs and looked forward to promising futures.

All that changed early August 12, when they were sitting quietly in Thomas's car. Someone pulled up alongside them and fired a hail of bullets into the car, killing the girls instantly. Police report that both girls suffered more than 10 bullet wounds each to the head, neck, and shoulders.

The level of violence, they say, is consistent with a hate crime, and Thomas's mother says she's certain it was someone from their neighborhood--someone who knew and teased her daughter and then murdered both girls.

There is a common thread connecting all these tragedies, and it is the constant threat of gender violence that haunts and hunts our kids at school. According to a study published by ABC News, 86% of teens report there is bullying and taunting at school. As we focus on the war against terror in the Middle East, we also must recognize the enduring war of terror against schoolchildren here at home.

This is a war against boys who are gentle or shy or who "throw like girls." It's a war against tomboy girls who are too aggressive or too "dykey." It's a war with real combatants and real casualties, like Aaron, Ukea, Stephanie, the students who lost their lives in Santee, and, yes, even Charles Williams.

We need to stop this war, not only to save these teens and others like them but so that all children--gay and straight, white and black, feminist and transgendered--can learn in schools in which they are safe, valued, and respected.

I'm reminded of a story an Atlanta mother just told me. She'd just bought her 11-year-old son a padlock for his locker, one of those cool new ones in bright, shiny metallic colors. He took one look at it and said, "Mom--magenta and lime! The guys would kill me for that. What were you thinking?" What, indeed.