When Disruptive Students Are Coddled, the Whole Class Suffers

Quillette ^ | December 1, 2019 | Max Eden

[Grampa Dave]

When Disruptive Citizens Are Coddled, the Whole society Suffers.

[relictele]

Compulsory school attendance, especially when combined with the notion of a generally-populated school (elementary, middle or high) is an anachronism from the days of a rural, agrarian society when family, faith and school were the three legs of a cultural tripod. Faith and school acted in loco parentis and accountability was demanded at nearly all times in a children's development.

This did not mean that children were constantly monitored and supervised. Quite the opposite. Children played outside for long stretches - bicycles, swimming, pickup ball games, whatever. There were fights. There were petty crimes. There were hurt feelings and skinned knees. Things were settled among a group - a crucial part of maturity - or if they got out of hand the parents, teachers, principals or clergy got involved and then it got ugly quick. And so kids took collective and individual steps NOT to escalate such matters and again settle things among themselves.

As we are all too aware, faith and family have been targeted for destruction by the left. Schools, however, were repurposed as political indoctrination day camps lavished with tax money. The more enjoyable (and mostly extracurricular) parts of school - plays, music, sports - were hijacked by the left and held hostage by social engineers and that one, magical, malcontent single mother who always managed to bitch about a Christmas pageant and have the whole thing scrapped.

Back to attendance laws - they are ludicrous, have crossed into negligence and outright criminality. Smart, gentle, well-behaved kids are herded into enclosed spaces for long hours every day with thugs, perverts including so-called LGBT, addicts, neurotics, psychotics and plain old idiots ie those mentally incapable of concentrating and/or learning.

When school brag about their results, they trumpet AP results. NHS membership. College admissions especially Ivy League and other prestigious universities. But those achievements are almost always in spite of the school environment and rarely, if ever, because of it.

Free babysitting is a horrible justification for attending school but single mothers in particular absolutely love it.

Dumbed-down curriculum is the injection of a live virus of ignorance into masses of children. Then there is the propaganda that takes up at least half but closer to 90% of the school day. Climate change. Sexuality (the graphic kind, never the relationship kind). A narrow, twisted, hyperspecific view of history. Kids know who Ryan flaming White was but don't know a thing about Isaac Newton.

Tests have become the bane of schools and they never stop moaning about them. Why? Because tests, as flawed as they may be, are the only way for public officials and the taxpayers paying through the nose for government schools to take any sort of measurement of their 'investment.'

'Teach to the test' is a cop-out and an attempt at misdirection. If I teach by-the-book algebra or English usage and the test asks questions on these subjects what is there to fear? It would be like taking piano lessons and being given a piece of sheet music to play in a recital...on a piano.

But when coursework goes well off the path of objectivity into 'units' about this or that leftist trope that's when testing collides with politics and that's why the teachers moan about them. By the same token, they are STANDARDized tests meaning everyone takes the same test. But well-disguised morons who have been 'socially promoted' and given every break under the sun for their willful ignorance usually fail on a level playing field.

In the modern era is there no reason for large schools based on geographic catchment areas. Those catchment areas, by the way, are beloved by governments who are happy to jack up property tax rates in desirable areas.

School consolidation only exacerbates the problem by building massive, impersonal, dehumanizing campuses that are a sop to unions with a ridiculous number of staff assigned to this or that niche subject or specialty especially - God love them - students who are developmentally disabled and incapable of learning in a traditional school environment. Their parents are angry with their circumstances and hide behind the 'law says you get an education.' Maybe so but surely the evidence on the futility of mainstreaming is so voluminous and conclusive that even the parents must admit a different approach is required.

Schools should be divided and/or applied to according to ability. Smart, well-behaved kids will thrive in an environment free from predators. Predators housed together will receive greater discipline. If a punk isn't fit for school at all then boom - he's out. None of this remediation, review, second chances, etc. We're spending a fortune on criminals who don't and won't ever care. They are committing theft twice over by spurning vast sums and taking portions of other sums away from the kid who must sit there idle while the class disruptor acts up every single day.

It's time for tough love with love completely optional.

[CodeToad]

“that behavior that was tolerated and pampered is illegal as an adult.”

Or they are shot by the cops.

I have a friend that returned to cop duty after 14 years. He was shot in the butt 14 year earlier and went to work for business instead. One month after returning to cop duty he had to shoot a kid who was throwing a temper tantrum, a pure and simple tantrum. The kid went into the bathroom and took a gun from the toilet tank and pointed it at my friends cop partner. My friend had to shoot him.

So, parents, failing to discipline your child can lead to deadly results.

[SamAdams76]

Should also mention that my elementary years in public school were for the most part pretty solid. I went to first grade in 1968 and back then, there was a strict dress code for students (I'm talking public schools). Boys had to wear shirt and ties and girls had to wear dresses or skirts.

This all started to change by the mid 1970s. Middle school was still somewhat dress up but sneakers and jerseys began to be allowed. By junior high school, all dress code went out the window and kids started showing up in ripped jeans, Led Zeppelin T-shirts and leather jackets.

Maybe it was just coincidence but the schools got rougher as the dress code devolved. I still have class pictures from the early grades of elementary and all the kids are smiling in their shirts and ties and dresses. In my high school yearbook, most looked sullen and angry.

[CodeToad]

My 6th grade teach, Mr. Cooney, leaped two desks and slammed a rowdy kid into the lockers. Scared the kid into pissing his pants. Kid never made another threat again to anyone.

[bgill]

Today, there is no dad in the home to make sure the kid doesn’t act out again.

Today, kids have to have handlers at school. Look at how many aides there are in your local school. Most are handlers who escort the trouble makers around all day and have radios to contact officials if the kid has an episode.

[Newbomb Turk]

Had a PE teacher that told the entire class straight up that he would track students down outside of school and kick their ass if they gave him any trouble. He was about 5 foot tall and looked like one big muscle.

I'm still friends with him. Great guy.

[Inspectorette]

The nuns would make us kneel in front of the classroom statue of the Blessed Mother. Length of time on our knees depended upon the severity of the misbehavior.

[aquila48]

The insane have taken over the asylums.

[Mariner]

Sister Eutropia used to whack us on the ear with a ruler.

[dfwgator]

[hal ogen]

The reason that LIB-loser. lefty “educators” come up with these loony ideas is that ALL LIBs are lunatics (it is only a matter of degree). They attempt to make those of us who aren’t mentally unbalanced accept loony-ness as “normal”. See trannies, see homos, see pedophiles, see drug abusers, see homeless nutjobs...see any LIB idea or behavior. LIBs/Lefties should be kept away from any position of influence, of power, of authority and of responsibility. They are malignancies upon civil society everywhere.

[xrmusn]

You know in our day that whatever punishment we might have gotten in school was going to be much worse when we got home.......
= = = = = = = = =

In the late 40s/early 50s, Under the ‘Sister or Father’ is NEVER wrong, if one were to complain about something at school one would get it at home, THEN ‘they’ would check with Sister to see what the ‘problem’ was, THEN - next day of school, Sister would ‘teach’ one what the penalties were for ‘carrying tales home from school’.

Sort of kept their ‘atrocities’ in check as ALL were ‘afraid’ to ‘squeal on anyone’.

Probably a factor in the early stages of the ‘Priest abuse’ as ‘we’ had it drummed into us that Priests and Nuns were ‘Gods hand’ and could do no wrong, so much kids of the era were unable to ‘complain’ if the Priest were ‘grabby’ as no one would really listen to them. It really wasn’t till many ‘stood up’ that anything was done and then it was usually a ‘transfer’ and ‘counseling’ when JAIL should have been the ONLY COURSE.

[EinNYC]

What a stupid idea. Sounds like something my former downstairs neighbor would have done. Her oldest kid (from the age of 2 on) would refuse to do something she was asked to do. When she was criticized for not doing as she was asked, she'd throw herself down face first onto the carpet and cry fake tears and carry on. Instead of ignoring her, her mother would then hug her and comfort her because she was crying, essentially rewarding her for being disobedient! PS, she never tried that stuff with me.

So these kids quickly learn that if they act out, they can bring the lesson to a screeching halt and then be able to talk and fool around with their buddies while out in the hall. Just as stupid a move on the part of the teachers and admin as that of my former neighbor.

[ridesthemiles]

AND-—for the cherry on top of the sundae:

Taxpayers are paying for the replacement/repair of all that destruction.

Maybe charge the parents of the disruptive kid & it WILL end.

[ozaukeemom]

A friend of mine has a son who is on the spectrum. He has severe difficulties in school. No, he doesn’t disrupt per se but, because of it, he is allowed to get up and go sit elsewhere or walk it off in the back of the room. It is not good for anyone. The school has the option, one the parents have looked into, of having him bused to a school that is specialized. But, they want to continue what they are doing instead. See, it would cost them funding to lose a student and cost them for transport. He had an IEP and it was removed. They are requesting it be revisited. The 504 is simply a bandaid. The school would rather that he get D’s and not succeed, than do what is best for the boy. It is sad because when he is one on one with me, he is terrific. I am not sure if he has Aspergers or something different but he is smart. It is just that he is not typical and requires a different strategy.

I think his parents would be mortified if their school were to subject the students to a room clear.

[Uncle Miltie]

Happens all the time in my wife’s KINDERGARTEN Class.

Kids are big and strong enough to throw chairs across the entire room.

[hanamizu]

When I was a sub, we were told to clear the room if a student was violent.

---

I occasionally sub now at a school I retired from. I can see why you were told what you were told. As a sub, you have no idea which kid might or might not have an IEP. It is likely that any kid who is throwing a desk, in fact does have an IEP. There will be some staff who have been specially trained to restrain such kids. So get the other kids out of the way, and call for help.

I’m not saying this is right, but the law, not the school, requires that every kid who lives in the district, no matter what is wrong with him or her gets to have an education “in the least restrictive” conditions possible. Kids with IEPs get first priority on a district’s resources. If an IEP kid disrupts other kids’ educations, that’s just too bad, it is what the law requires.

[leaning conservative]

Wow! Sounds exactly like several kindergarten classrooms at my school.

[stylin19a]

*** You know in our day that whatever punishment we might have gotten in school was going to be much worse when we got home ***

13 years of Catholic school...
no kidding. and the news always seemed to beat you home. Everybody in the hood knew. double jeopardy didn’t apply ...