Suspensions for students…help or further punishment…it depends

My blog today is really a response to an article I came across on Sunday by Julia Steiny entitled “Suspending students only makes a bad situation worse.”

I don’t think anyone would disagree with the fact that students will not learn anything if they are taken out of the learning system through inappropriate behaviors or inability to follow overall policies provided by their particular school or district.  Whenever they are not in the learning environment we cannot expect them to stay on track with their studies.  The issue comes down to the fact is that by allowing them to remain in the same environment, we are in essence saying that there is no negative consequence for a negative action/behavior.  I don’t think that’s the message a school wants to send.

There is a fine line here of juggling several things at once in the school environment:  disruptions need to be eliminated for the rest of the students; behaviors and consequences should be in place and consistently adhered to; attention should be given to those students who thrive and contribute to not only themselves but to raise the motivation level for their peers.

Steiny writes, “Suspension is a holdover from seemingly-efficient factory-model schools. Defective products are rejected from the assembly line and considered “acceptable casualties” until the number of “casualties” exceeds acceptable and forces the assembly line to stop and solve the problem.”  I say if you are just kicking students completely out of the system, her interpretation is accurate.  If there is another program in place between school and no school then it depends on the program being utilized.  There are programs that “house” students for the allotted timeframe.  No learning per se is being acquired.  Then there are other programs that are specifically geared towards the behaviors of these students and also incorporate academic into the mix.  The goal is to get these students back into the mainstream with a different outlook and life skills to help them cope with the situations that got them suspended in the first place.  Programs like this are in place to deal with these students, their reasons for suspension, the appropriateness of their behaviors and actions, and the reinforcement of good life skills to help them get through those situations in a better way.

Do we still have a long way to go in helping all students?  Sure thing…Are we doing things now to help get us to that point?  Absolutely…Are all suspension or alternative programs doing injustice to these students?  Most definitely NOT!  Let’s be careful not to blanket the concept but celebrate the bright spots and reinforce the small successes along the way.