Discipline

The seven of you who read my columns on a regular basis may have noticed that I very rarely write about anything that is locally relevant.  My columns often focus on semi-amusing anecdotes about my children, or they will offer the reader fairly vague commentary on a global issue too remote to really make anyone upset.  Recent events, however, have inspired me to discuss an issue that is extremely local, quite relevant, and, most importantly, almost certain to make some of you angry.  You are welcome.

Effingham High School, where I do my best to teach English on a daily basis, has recently come under scrutiny concerning its discipline policy.  Many parents are upset by an environment that they feel is too aggressive.  Some parents, in fact, have chosen to discuss their concern directly and publically to the school board, and for that they should be commended.  Most people, when something bothers them, simply whine about it and more often than not take out these frustrations on innocent bystanders.  Letting your voice be heard at a public forum in a reasonable manner is an exercise sorely lacking in modern American discourse, where it has become much simpler these days to merely hook a few expletives to a semi-coherent, generally misspelled “status update,” or “tweet,” and then send it on its merry way while hiding safely behind a computer screen.

One argument being used to suggest that EHS has a stricter-than-necessary discipline policy is the amount of suspensions being assigned.  Although the number has actually declined in recent years, on the surface the value might still seem too high in relation to the total number of students.  However, like most statistics, this number is a bit malleable, and, like all statistics, it needs to be taken in context. 

For the sake of argument, let us assume a school has a total of 55 suspensions in one academic year.  For a school the size of EHS, which has a fluctuating enrollment of approximately 830 students, that number might be a bit alarming.  After all, taken at face value, one might assume that EHS suspends 15% of its student body.

That is not the case, however.  This number represents the total number of suspensions overall. As a colleague mentioned to me earlier this week, if one were to take three or so students out of that equation, the number of suspensions would drop dramatically.  In other words, the number of students choosing to disregard the rules so often that the administration believes it is finally necessary to remove them from that school is much lower than 55.  Since gardening season is upon us, we’ll use this analogy.  Just because 55 carrots were eaten out of your garden in a year doesn’t mean you had 55 rabbits in your garden; it most likely means you have a few very hungry rabbits.

 This number also does not take into account that EHS, like most modern high schools, uses a progressive discipline policy. This means that only under extreme circumstances would a student be removed from their education for an isolated rule violation.  Suspensions are almost always the end consequence following a series of poor decisions. 

Another argument being forwarded is that the modern high school seems much stricter and more regimented than what we remember. The argument suggests that the modern student has more rules to follow than their counterpart from decades past.  This is mostly true.   Students today do have more rules to follow.  Today, people in general have more rules to follow.  Six months ago I could legally answer my cell phone while driving and learn that I needed to pick up some milk on the way home.  Today, thank God, answering such a call is against the law. 

Society has changed.  For good or ill, we put a much greater emphasis on safety than what we used to, and we seem much more willing to use litigation to make our schools safer.  Schools have always been a reflection of the society of which they serve, regardless of that society.  For example, I have to be “buzzed” into my daughter’s preschool just to pick her up, regardless of how fancy my tie looks that day. 

In closing, we need to ask ourselves:  what is the purpose of schools anyway?  If schools exist to prepare students to succeed in and contribute to an increasingly complicated society, then we do them a tremendous disservice by disregarding inappropriate behavior.  We live in a universe that functions amidst immutable laws.  For every action there will be a reaction.  That’s not public policy; that’s just physics.   That’s not a discipline code; that’s just life.

Teaching our young people to take responsibility for their actions isn’t going to hurt their self-esteem. Teaching our young people to take responsibility for their actions is perhaps the most important lesson we can ever teach, and it’s a lesson much easier learned before graduation.