Much discussion has been had on this blog lately about the suspension rate of African-American children. After some medium level heated discussion, it appears we all agree, District 150 has an "acting out" problem.
The attitude appears to be, that while one could go to great lengths to empathize with the children who act out, probably because they have a crappy home life, ultimately we can't condone that behavior. No excuses.
At the same time, when it comes to teachers who act out by berating children, we appear to rather look for an excuse. Thus far, teachers and staffers who are posting the most, typically blame the parents and the administrators.
The attitude appears to be, that while one could go to great lengths to empathize with the children who act out, probably because they have a crappy home life, ultimately we can't condone that behavior. No excuses.
At the same time, when it comes to teachers who act out by berating children, we appear to rather look for an excuse. Thus far, teachers and staffers who are posting the most, typically blame the parents and the administrators.
Are we to condone the teachers behavior, provided it occurs only once in a while?
Many feel that a teacher who consistently berates children, probably shouldn't be a teacher. However, we should compare the two situations of "acting out" - those by students and those by teachers.
Perhaps the questions should be do we have most of these problems from a small group of students and teachers who consistently act out, or do we just have a higher percentage of people today than we did 20 years ago, that are likely to "act out" once in awhile?
If it's the former, that's pretty easy to know what to do - fire the teacher and remove the child from the class.
Many feel that a teacher who consistently berates children, probably shouldn't be a teacher. However, we should compare the two situations of "acting out" - those by students and those by teachers.
Perhaps the questions should be do we have most of these problems from a small group of students and teachers who consistently act out, or do we just have a higher percentage of people today than we did 20 years ago, that are likely to "act out" once in awhile?
If it's the former, that's pretty easy to know what to do - fire the teacher and remove the child from the class.
If it's the latter, which is that we just have so many more students from broken homes and the like - then we have to stop this blame game - simply acknowledge that we ALL have something to do with the problem, and then each work on what we can most affect.
There are no easy answers, but it requires a true group effort. Hopefully, when the City Council meets with the School District on June 1, they will be prepared to start the discussion about "acting out" on this level.