
Mindaugus Danys/Flickr
New approaches to discipline unruly students may not be working as hoped.
Talking things out may not be the best alternative to traditional "zero tolerance" school discipline, which research has shown has racial disparities.... Read more»
Mindaugus Danys/Flickr
New approaches to discipline unruly students may not be working as hoped.
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2 comments on this story
Reality is tough. Human beings have been dealing with improper behavior and criminal activity for 5000 years or more. Not a single trendy alternative to traditional ideas of incarceration or more severe punishments has worked.
Many people wish they could be kinder and gentler - look what happened to the guy who came up with that idea. Mocked. Ridiculed. And so on.
Everything criminal is theft. Theft of property. Theft of a life. Theft of dignity, respect or privacy. Traditional remedies of incarceration, fines, and restoration to status quo ante work. Being nice to the criminal, like being nice to the wayward child, never works. By reducing the punishment you disrespect the victim, and you rob the evil doer of the value of the punishment.
Zero tolerance for schools does not work. How can you let the punishment fit the crime and learning occur when every punishment is banishment? I was a school board member in new england for ten years. I chaired a board of ed for 6. We fought hard for an end to zero tolerance.
Do you truly want to expel a 12 year old for having a motrin to address her menstrual cramps? If a boy makes a fake gun out of two sticks, is that grounds for expulsion? If a boy who went camping with his family still has a pocket knife in his backpack, do you suspend him? We had these exact events, and we decided to do away with zero tolerance and place humanity and teachers back in control. You can supervise the inappropriate punishment, you should not destroy a child’s life with expulsion and suspension over innocuous activity.