Students in Australia report "shocking levels of classroom disruption in international surveys," and schools face "a worsening teacher shortage," but the establishment doesn't want anyone to talk about it, writes Greg Ashman on Filling the Pail.
Quillette founder Claire Lehmann discusses the taboo:
“Apparently we are not supposed to use the term “behaviour” anymore,’ wrote one teacher just this week. ‘Apparently behavioural issues are “wellbeing” issues. And behaviour is a stigmatising term for young people.’”
Some U.S. states are taking a harder line on school discipline rules, reports Stateline.
That's a mistake, argue Rachel M. Perara and Melissa Kay Diliberti on the Brookings Center blog. "Suspension-promoting policies do not reduce student misbehavior, nor do they make schools safer," their research finds.
How soon are we going to start getting feedback as to how well Houston's new policy is working out that repurposes school libraries as spaces for disruptive kids?
Public schools need "rubber rooms" for the disruptive kids. And they need to be unpleasant rooms -- not the "Breakfast Club" hangout that the movie depicts. For instance, I suggest: * Loud annoying opera constantly playing. * Phones confiscated, of course -- and not returned at the end of the day. * Nutritious but unwanted food. Only beverage is water.
* Only textbooks allowed. No paper and pencils. TWO benefits: 1. The disruptors are out of the "teaching" classes, so the other students benefit. 2. The unpleasant aspects of the rubber rooms will encourage students to NOT disrupt classes.
While "somestudies have found that non-misbehaving students’ outcomes improve when their misbehaving peers are removed,""
This is just common sense. When a teacher is spending most of their time on 2-3 misbehaving students and getting stressed out too, this hurts the education of the behaving students. If half of the kids in the class are misbehaving and you are seen as uncool if you are actually working, of course there would be less learning going on. There is a reason why kids in well-behaved classrooms do better on test scores and learning than in ones in more misbehaving ones.