Follow Up

As I noted yesterday, the punishment system in use in many schools, which often makes liberal use of suspensions, can have serious and harmful implications for students in the years after they leave schools. It is not unlikely that students who are suspended face serious punishments going forward including imprisonment.

Make no mistake, misbehavior and harmful actions by students who are attending school need to be addressed.

The conversation, as I see it, should shift to examining a fundamental question. As Kevin Gilbert, a member of the NEA Executive Committee, sees it we need to ask this question: "Do our discipline structures help or hurt kids?"
I'd add that it has to be a serious look at what is meant by 'helping' and 'hurting.'

Unless we examine we what have been doing in the past and present with regard to handing out punishments for all sorts of poor student behavior we are not likely to really help students.

Dick