Student Discipline and America’s Lawsuit Culture Ruth A. Wooden
The Christian Science Monitor, September 9, 2004 As students return to America's public schools this September, educators face
intense pressure to improve student achievement. But too little attention is being
paid to the "unruly, disrespectful, and sometimes violent atmosphere" that in
many schools is undermining the ability of teachers to teach and students to learn.
A full 4 in 10 teachers say they "spend more time trying to keep order in the
classroom than actually teaching," reported Ruth Wooden, president of Public Agenda, in a recent Christian Science
Monitor editorial. The finding is from a May 2004 poll conducted by Public Agenda
and commissioned by Common Good.
Common Good is mobilizing a coalition to support the overwhelming majority of
parents and teachers who, Wooden notes, recognize that "good discipline and behavior
are prerequisites to a successful school." We support freeing teachers from the
pervasive fear of being sued and daunting procedural requirements that undermine
their freedom to use common sense in day-to-day disciplinary decisions.
Summarizing Public Agenda's research, Wooden writes:
[M]ost parents believe their schools are responding well to serious criminal
offenses involving drugs or weapons. But it is the bad behavior lower down the
continuum that is so pernicious, so corrosive. Rowdiness, disrespect, bullying,
talking out, lateness, and loutishness--these misbehaviors are poisoning the learning
atmosphere in many public schools. One New Jersey teacher we talked to described
it this way: "The gum chewing ... the yawning aloud or putting their feet up on
the desk ... like they didn't know that was inappropriate."
Wooden questions why we are "so reluctant to talk about improved behavioral standards
as a necessary precondition for improved academic standards"?
Indeed, the Common Good-commissioned study found that parents and teachers widely
agree about the problem of student discipline and are open to a wide range of
solutions, from "enforcing little rules in classrooms and hallways ... [to] stave
off bigger problems" (61 percent of teachers and 63 percent of parents strongly support this idea) to "removing monetary awards for parents who sue over school
discipline" (50 percent of teachers and 43 percent of parents strongly support this proposal).
One possible reason why student discipline gets so little attention is that educators
and policy makers are afraid to discuss the issue--afraid to be branded as opponents
of the hallowed institution of students' rights.
But addressing the discipline issue is essential to protecting the right of every
student to learn in a safe environment. Every day, teachers and principals must
make decisions--in discipline and in other areas--that balance the interests of
everyone. To support these hard-working educators, we must begin to see public
schools as a common endeavor, rather than as a battleground for individual rights
and entitlement.
Read more about "Teaching Interrupted: Do Discipline Policies in Today's Public Schools
Foster the Common Good?" a Public Agenda study commissioned by Common Good.
Read Ruth Wooden's editorial, "Needed: A More Disciplined Approach to Learning," on The Christian Science
Monitor's webpage. | 
