A math teacher at a Queens middle school recently penned an anonymous article about the breakdown of discipline at his middle school. The author poignantly writes, “In my 20 years working for the Board of Ed, I’ve never seen such a disregard for the rules — and human decency — as I’m seeing now.”
Teachers across the country are beginning to speak out about the challenges they are facing and their feelings of powerlessness to confront them. The anonymous teacher writes: “So what can we teachers do to lay down the law? Under the current system, nothing. The best we can do is meet with the troubled kids and try to explain that their actions have long-term consequences.”
Today’s apparent crisis in discipline is difficult to link to any particular policy change or institutional issue, though many try. Some blame the discipline guidelines President Barack Obama put in place to address the fact that black and Latino students are disciplined at higher rates than white students. These guidelines led to fewer out-of-school suspensions and expulsions, leading some to believe that students were not adequately facing the consequences of their behavior.
Others blame restorative justice practices that seek to target the root causes of behavior in more therapeutic ways, despite the successes that these practices have fostered in many areas. Still others blame two seminal Supreme Court cases, Tinker v. Des Moines and Goss v. Lopez, that expanded free speech and due process rights for public school students, respectively.
The finger-pointing does not resolve the fact that educators are left holding the bag, asking: What can, and should, we do?
In my limited experience as an educator and lover of all things school-related, I have surmised that our seemingly more difficult encounters with children and teenagers today are not attributable to any one root cause.
Kids act out because of a number of factors. These include, but are not limited to, the breakdown of the nuclear family, an abandonment of character and values education in public schools, general feelings of skepticism and distrust, bad adult role models, the rise of social media, feelings of isolation, and well-intentioned, but misguided, imposed policies.
The Manhattan Institute’s Kay Hymowitz wrote nearly two decades ago that “Over the past 30 years or so, the courts and the federal government have hacked away at the power of educators to maintain a safe and civil school environment … What’s been lost is educators’ crucial role of passing on cultural values to the young and instructing them in how to behave through innumerable small daily lessons and examples.”
Today, those sentiments are clearly on the minds and hearts of educators who care about their students’ personal development. Though it is difficult for schools to fill the void left by lack of supportive family structure or the vapidity of the culture to which our youth are exposed, many are making intentional efforts.
Some educational institutions, such as KIPP’s charter network, have intentionally formed and marketed themselves as educators of character in the last few decades. Mottos like “Work Hard. Be Nice” adorn their walls, and children witness strong, positive role models in their teachers.
Additionally, the more than 6,000 Catholic schools have been educating both the mind and the heart for more than 100 years. Faith-based schools have been intensely focused on the socio-emotional (and moral) development of students long before it became an educational buzzword in the last several years.
Above all, educators and policymakers must realize that “solving” the problem of school discipline is as complex as its root causes. Changing the way in which students are suspended, expelled, or restored back to the community will only work for certain students in certain times and places.
Thankfully, culture change can and should start from the school level. We should care about test scores, but we should also care about students’ ability to relate to one another, speak to adults, navigate interactions with authority they may mistrust, etc. Schools should be the building blocks of society.
Our struggles with discipline reveal that sending kids out of school back into a culture that does not chastise, or even approves of, their actions will not work. We must first recognize that school is about so much more than academics; it is about developing habits of respect and cultivating an appreciation for our shared humanity.
Mother Teresa said it best: “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.”
Kate Hardiman is a contributor to Red Alert Politics. She is pursuing a master’s in education from Notre Dame University and teaches English and religion at a high school in Chicago.
