When a teacher or school administrator suffers from a momentary lapse in common sense they ought to be disciplined accordingly by the school district and/or state they work for. But it is irresponsible to blame all teachers or the entire education system for these few individuals who behave inappropriately in the name of student discipline.
Over the years I have read about cases where teachers have used duct tape to restrain students in their desks, publicly humiliated students to TEACH them a lesson, and other random acts of insanity in the name of student discipline. These teachers receive no sympathy from me and deserve to loose the ability to teach or care for children.
However, I recently read an article, a few articles, where Eric Holder and President Obama have ridiculed teachers across the country for being racists. Regardless of the statistics and research you choose to review black students represent the largest portion of students who receive out-of-school suspension for breaking school rules. I do not dispute these numbers, in fact, I agree with them based on experience and reviewing the research.
I agree that something must be done to keep these students in school so they can learn and develop into productive members of society. I do NOT agree that teachers are completely at fault for these numbers or that the numbers equate to racism. President Obama suggested that teachers be trained on classroom management and school administrators be trained to handle discipline in an effective manner to curb this trend. Well, Mr. President, this is already the case, all educators are trained in these matters as part of earning their teaching and administrative credentials. Understanding student behavior and how to properly handle them is a pre-requisite to becoming a teacher or an administrator. Not every teacher is effective at managing their classroom or student discipline, but they are all trained so common sense dictates that this suggestion will not help the problem.
Over the years I have read about cases where teachers have used duct tape to restrain students in their desks, publicly humiliated students to TEACH them a lesson, and other random acts of insanity in the name of student discipline. These teachers receive no sympathy from me and deserve to loose the ability to teach or care for children.
However, I recently read an article, a few articles, where Eric Holder and President Obama have ridiculed teachers across the country for being racists. Regardless of the statistics and research you choose to review black students represent the largest portion of students who receive out-of-school suspension for breaking school rules. I do not dispute these numbers, in fact, I agree with them based on experience and reviewing the research.
I agree that something must be done to keep these students in school so they can learn and develop into productive members of society. I do NOT agree that teachers are completely at fault for these numbers or that the numbers equate to racism. President Obama suggested that teachers be trained on classroom management and school administrators be trained to handle discipline in an effective manner to curb this trend. Well, Mr. President, this is already the case, all educators are trained in these matters as part of earning their teaching and administrative credentials. Understanding student behavior and how to properly handle them is a pre-requisite to becoming a teacher or an administrator. Not every teacher is effective at managing their classroom or student discipline, but they are all trained so common sense dictates that this suggestion will not help the problem.
Another suggestion was eliminating zero tolerance policies and guidelines to follow to make suspension numbers look more racially balanced. So either we start suspending a lot more white, Asian, and Hispanic students OR we stop suspending Black students. I guess we could use quotas for suspension but what happens when the good kids stay good and the tough kids stay tough?? Do we randomly suspend students on a lottery system to balance the numbers???
The ideas offered for correcting this issue by the Department of Justice, the Department of Education, and President Obama defy the concepts of COMMON SENSE. Instead of targeting teachers and schools for using suspension how about we target the STUDENTS AND THEIR PARENTS in a type of social reform effort. Stop trying to reform school and let's reform how society views education. Large portions if society do not value education, they value survival, so the family focuses on paying the rent and buying food, NOT homework or class projects. Some families simply ignore education, using the school as a source of free daycare.
Common Sense dictates that the solution to resolving any issue is finding the root cause of that issue. I suggest that the root cause is not the teachers inability to manage their classroom but the disconnect between the school and the home. Research has shown that the biggest deterrent to students getting in trouble in school is parent involvement.
If we choose to agree that the wisdom of Martin Luther King Jr. Then we must also agree that education is a collaborative effort between the school and the home. The school teaches students to think and the home teaches children to have character. Unfortunately not all parents choose to be involved with their child's education or to to teach them about respecting themselves or others. Over the years I can't tell you how many times reaching out to a students home has resulted in the parent yelling and using inappropriate language.
Example:
I once had a coworker reach out to me for help in dealing with a students in-class behavior. The child was very bright but very unmotivated, a situation all too common in schools across the country. Only 3 months into the school year the child had been absent from school a total of 15 days, roughly 20% of the school days that had passed. Even so when ever he took a quiz or test he scored above average.
When he was in school he would spend most of the day talking back his teacher, throwing things in class, stealing items from his class mates, and other random acts of non-violent behavior. His behavior was mostly disruptive to the point it interrupted instruction, thereby effecting the education of the rest of the class.
The teacher has sent notes home, left messages at the house and could never get the parents to respond. Because his actions where non-violent the teacher never saw it necessary to suspend the child. He had served in-school detention, lost recess, been given opportunities to earn rewards for good behavior and nothing really worked. So we decided to make a home visit to talk with the parents to get their help.
When we went by the house we knocked on the door and no one answered. There was loud music playing and we heard voices inside the house. So we rang the door bell and knocked again. Someone inside the house yelled, "get the F*ck out of hear I'm not buying sh*t." I said we are here to talk to you about your son, we are from the school. The child's mother answered the door holding a beer and said, "I don't care what he did I am busy and I did not invite you so get in your car and drive the f*ck on outta here before I get my gun." I said I am sorry to bother you, we have been trying to get ahold of you to talk a out your son missing school and his behavior in class. The mom said, "I don't have time for that sh*t I am busy so you deal with it, now Ima count to 3 then get my gun." She started counting so I said have a nice day and we left. As we left she said, "yup that's right just a couple b*tches that what I thought."
I ask you, why do you think the child is disrespectful and unmotivated???
Common sense leads to me believe this may be the true root of the problem of why some students get into so much trouble in school. Parents have to be willing to teach their children and work with the school to ensure their children are developing into productive members of society.
The school is not a pipe line to jail, as many would suggest, the home is.
-Dr. Thomas Dogood
No comments:
Post a Comment