Dirty Secret

There’s a lot of teeth gnashing, hair pulling and finger pointing as to the causes of the failing schools, low scores, dwindling high school graduation rate, and the appalling statistic that more than half the adults in Los Angeles are functionally illiterate. In plain words that means they cannot read a bus schedule or fill out a work application.

We hear about poor teacher preparation, foolish teaching methods, irrelevant textbooks, and the inability to motivate students to learn.

All these must be considered -- however no one talks about the dirty little secret - the proverbial elephant in the living room that we gingerly tiptoe around and are reluctant, even fearful, to discuss with our closest colleagues. Discipline - or rather no discipline - reigns in countless classrooms, total anarchy and mob rule are the order of the day - and what can we do about it?

To admit that your classroom is out of control is to say that you are an incompetent teacher, that you can’t manage your classroom, that you aren’t strong enough. To ask for help is an admission of weakness. The ringleaders can be sent to the office, if they agree to go. Often the child refuses - then they return with a note that says “counseled”. Or if there has been bloodshed, perhaps the parents are called and they are suspended. Great. Stay home, watch TV, and play Game Boy.

Some parents are genuinely concerned, but they are also at a loss as to what to do. Angry parents confront angry children -- girls as well as boys. The usual methods spur more defiance.

The huge advantage that private schools have over the public schools is that they don’t take problem children, and if a child acts up, the child is expelled - right back to the neighborhood school which has no choice.

The public schools must take everyone. Meanwhile, there are students who walk out of class, wander the halls, are out on the playground, or spending countless hours playing hide and seek in the lavatories. How do you engage such kids?

In some areas this behavior is evident in kindergarten where socializing usually begins.
But these little ones will not adapt. They push, they hit, they bite, and disrupt the teaching of basic skills. The police were called to a first -grade classroom when a small student attempted to choke another with such strength that the other child was badly injured. Others straighten out paper clips and stab each other.

And this is elementary school. These years build the foundation of their learning. If the teachers cannot teach, if some children will not learn in a normal school setting, then all suffer.
The window of opportunity closes for so many. Every one fails. And then social promotion moves them on to middle and high schools where stress causes instructors attempting to teach academic subjects in bedlam into disability leaves or other professions.

And the students - what happens to the students? Some persevere despite the toxic surroundings. But half of inner city kids leave school before graduation to hang out on the streets or find their way into gangs and the underground economy of drugs and stolen goods.

The answers are complex. It would be easier to start all over but we can’t just throw away this generation and maybe two or three more. Do we go back to paddling or other forms of punishment? Maybe the wrong approach, but it sure is tempting when a child jeers ”you can’t do nothin’ to me.” But these children have certainly been exposed to beatings, as well as other results of frustrated parents leading lives of desperation.

If we could identify the ringleaders and transfer them, not into Special Education, which is common in some schools, but to classrooms with teachers trained in anger management, and with access to counselors, care, and creative solutions. We may not reclaim all of these children but at least their original classrooms would be able to function and learning could resume for the rest.

The long-range plan would reduce the pressure by assuring that children live in safe homes or places, and that working families are guaranteed access to wages that provide more than crowded minimum housing and bare necessities. We can provide quality child care and invest money to rebuild families( of any definition) and communities. The cost would probably be less than to rebuild Fallouja.