Schools Rules & Kids Behaving Like Fools
June 4th, 2009
How the involvement of educators can make or break future criminals.
By Anand Rao
Is there a bigger role our teachers can play in identifying and nipping a criminal instinct in the bud? It's interesting to examine the role of schools. Are public schools accountable for the conduct of their students?
The graph here is a clear indicator that there is an increase in the number of violent crimes. Though the latest figures report a drop, are the schools doing anything different to prevent children from taking to crime?
Reacting to the question, Jason Olsen, Communications Officer for the Salt Lake City School District said, "It has been my experience that public schools tend to reflect the communities that surround them. Schools in affluent areas tend to have affluent students. Schools in high poverty areas have a large number of low-income students. Recent research at the state office of education also shows schools in areas where a higher percentage of parents have college degrees tend to have higher graduation rates and higher grades/test scores."
In the modern context, high grades and better test scores in a few schools is no yardstick to measure the results of overall effectiveness of the education imparted in the whole district. Teaching kids the negative consequences of crime is the responsibility of everyone, parents, guardians and teachers included.
As Officer Christensen points out, "If a kid gets away committing an offence, it's most likely that he or she will commit that crime again. If they disrespect their parents and teachers, they will be disrespectful to police officers too. I always come across kids who mouth off more than necessary. That's a clear indication that there is a problem in his nurturing. "
Dr. Jed Erickson, Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Utah makes a scientific observation, "A child's behavior becomes obvious in certain social settings. Public schools are a fine example of it. There are various tools available in psychiatry where we could work on developing accountability to the peer group."
Elaborating on the subject, Dr. Erickson says, "In a group environment, a child's behavior can be controlled by applying the consequence of his behavior to the whole group. So by making it clear that one individual's misconduct will represent the whole group in poor light will increase awareness of the whole group."
Analyzing and implementing those tools in real situations could be very interesting. For example; if the majority of children in a school bring to the notice of teachers the misconduct of an individual or a smaller group of children, teachers and parents can take measures to rectify the potential problem. In today's scenario do we really have teachers willing to take that step?
Jason Olsen of Salt Lake school district says, "Public schools put great effort into teaching honesty and integrity, especially in terms of tests and homework. Schools in Salt Lake City also have some sort of character education program that teaches respect and caring."
We have excellent teachers but are they empowered to discipline kids without the fear of getting sued? Can we return to the good old days of whacking on the knuckles of disobedient students? Or punish the entire class when a guilty individual refuses to confess?
"They are all scared of litigation," says Erickson. "My wife is a school teacher and she is very careful about disciplining kids in her school."
Defense attorney Grant says, "Disciplining kids involved in illegal activities or getting a confession is not the work of teachers but supervising them certainly is."
Officer Leonard too emphasizes on the safety of law-abiding children. He says, "There are so many good kids out there trying to get an education, schools have to make sure they are safe."
Officer Christensen echoes the same thought with a chilling example. "I know a case where I arrested a kid for carrying a loaded handgun to school. The next year he was back at the same school. If a kid brings a loaded handgun to class, he should be put on an alternative program and not allowed to get back to school with other kids. Another kid stole a teacher's car and he was allowed back into the school," adds Christensen.
He was clearly voicing the thought that Salt Lake City school district is soft and lenient towards offending adolescents, who are potentially dangerous to other children.
Between the views of the law enforcement officers, attorney, psychiatrist and the schools' official, we understand the crux of the issue: teachers need to be empowered to discipline kids without fear. It's unfortunate that educators have to often live under the fear of the very law that should encourage them to discipline children. Lack of structure in both classrooms and homes is a definite recipe for kids to choose wrong paths in life.
