Suspension of Kindergartners - Your thoughts???

[Toby'sFriend]

I think to me the question is one of "Whose Problem Is It?"

I agree 100% that more time at home is not the answer to many of these children's problems. But on the other hand I have to think that some Public Schools in this nation are spending way too much time on Parenting and not nearly enough time on academics.

The primary job of the school is to educate.

If the behavior of a particular child in the classroom makes educating the rest of the class impossible, and/or makes the teacher afraid to be IN the classroom, then the child must go.

In some of these cases, even at age 5, I think Suspension is more than appropriate. If nothing else, it is a message to the parents that school is not a free babysitting service, and that if the problem continues, the privelage of being in the classroom can and will be removed.

There are other cases where an underlying behavioral or medical problem is the culprit. In those instances, it is again the job of the parents to find the diagnoses and appropriate treatment and assist the school in finding an educational plan that allows the student to remain in the classroom without disrupting the other students.

 

[bekkiz]

Although this may be neither here nor there, suspension is (according to most educational research) an effective form of punishment.

1) The child is removed from the learning environment, which put him or her even farther behind their classmates. (One can assume poor behavior has a negative correlation to success in academics)

2) Suspension does not make the parents feel more responsible, it alienates them or cases them to resent the school. Too often suspension forces parents to miss work or pay for day care. Discipline needs to be a cooperative arrangement, parents need to feel important and understood by the school

3) At some point you must assume parents will not be involved and the school needs to act in the best interest of the child. While protection for the other students is important, the violent child needs help, or he/she will continue their behavior. The best protection would be to have the school intervene on behalf of the child to modify the behavior. Suspension offers no support or help to modify poor behavior.