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Police intervention replacing traditional discipline in schools

Ann McFeatters

By Ann McFeatters

Published Oct. 27, 2014

Police intervention replacing traditional discipline in schools

Who among us has not inwardly been gleeful at having gotten away with something at school? Knowing the teacher didn't like the subject of our theme but blowing her mind with how original it was. Pushing the line on a high school drama performance. Forcing the administration to back down on a policy of no student cars in the parking lot. Dying your hair a slightly forbidden color and getting away with it or flaunting a fake tattoo.

Teens have bags of tricks to show rebellion, individuality, creativity or non-conformity. But it's not always easy to pull off. Other kids can turn into bullies. Teachers and administrators can withhold grades, approval and favors.

And today's unruly students can go to prison.

Thanks to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal, we are learning that more students are coming into serious encounters with the law at school. And too often it leads to jail, being marked as a lawbreaker, denied entrance to college or a life-long branding as a troublemaker.

If you haven't been to an inner city high school lately, you are likely to be shocked at the armed police officers milling around, the magnetometers at the entrances, the smell of fear and intimidation.

Of course there are still remarkable teachers who manage to instill a love of learning in such a climate, but it has become harder.

Terrified of the raft of school shootings, the senseless violence and rampant drug use, administrators have gratefully turned the job of disciplining — which is neither fun nor easy — over to uniforms whose word is law.

Schools are supposed to be places where learning is challenging and innovative and creativity is rewarded. The Journal tells the story of a girl on the playground trying to make a volcano for a science project on her own who ended up being charged with a weapons violation. She learned something, all right.

About a quarter of a million students each year are referred to law enforcement officials, sometimes for talking back to teachers, now billed as disorderly conduct.

Of course, we want teachers and students protected. We want orderly classes and halls. We don't want gang rule or guns or drugs. And police presence makes sense in a lot of situations, such as a rowdy football game.

But what is happening on school campuses today goes far beyond what society has sanctioned. This now involves police officers who step in before teachers have a chance to act. The Journal reports of a student sharing lunch voucher food with another student and found to be violating the law. Imagine getting a misdemeanor ticket in high school for wearing too much perfume. Now, clearly, the act is offensive — but that's how you learn. People hold their noses and you don't do it again. But you shouldn't wind up in court over your assault on reason.

No wonder kids flock to video games and books such as Divergent and The Hunger Games. One of their own redeems them, even at the suspension of disbelief.

It's a slippery slope. If students don't respect their parents, teachers and school, they are likely to act out. It used to be that a kind adult who knew how to get through to students would have a little chat and eventually the situation could be resolved. But now there's an encounter with a brusque law enforcement official, and the student seethes over the unfairness or drops out. Sometimes the records are not sealed, and a student is marked for life.

To their credit, the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Education Department worry that this trend toward categorizing unruly student behavior as criminal has gotten out of hard. Both departments are trying to rein it in and are, as usual when dealing with excessive disciplinarianism, finding it difficult. Bullying by adults can be just as prevalent as bullying by peers.

The government must persevere. We don't want a land of well-behaved but docile, bitter students for whom fear is the watchword and learning is accidental. The relevant adult slogan is "Well-behaved women seldom make history."

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Ann McFeatters is an op-ed columnist for McClatchy-Tribune.

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