Sunday, April 17, 2005

SCHOOLS DANGEROUSLY OUT OF CONTROL

The flying chair that knocked out a Cleveland high school administrator on Mon day should send alarms throughout the city. When going to class means risking a hospital visit, education stands no chance. And when adults look at chaos and call it order, they undermine the school district's credibility and put more students in jeopardy.

Monday's fracas at South High School that sent an administrator and a student to emergency rooms is only the latest example of uproar in local buildings. As Plain Dealer columnist Regina Brett reported on Sunday, Glenville High School suffered an incident of its own last week that bloodied students and teachers and led to the arrests of two teens. Journalists' visits to Collinwood High School, meanwhile, have revealed an institution where students are completely comfortable loitering in hallways when they should be in class.

Disruptive students themselves bear first responsibility for this culture of unrest. Teenagers are old enough to know how they should act; those who choose to do otherwise ought to face discipline, up to and including expulsion. The parents of such youths also should be accountable. They are their children's first teachers, and at the least should impart respect for authority. At South High, however, police say a parent pitched in to injure a student, underlining the desperate need for church and community leaders to play a vocal and visible role in establishing basic standards for behavior.

But no matter how spectacularly those outside school walls may fail in their obligation to guide young people, education officials must do what is necessary to guarantee safety within their buildings. That means beefing up security, an area that took large hits in last year's budget cuts and now faces more reductions. Meanwhile, alternative schools - where the district assigns its most troublesome youths - also face closure. That's a recipe for more chaos and less learning.

Of course school officials want to devote the bulk of their shrinking resources to instruction, but reality dictates that security must command a hefty share of the budget. No one - much less a teenager - concentrates well in a state of constant fear. It is regrettable that meeting the demands of safety means spending less on other valuable programs, but district officials have no choice. They must stop declaring order and actually restore it.


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WHAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS NEED TO DO TO MAINTAIN ORDER

My home-schooled granddaughter and I went to have lunch with my public schooled granddaughter at her school recently. She wanted us to come have lunch with her. It cost $2.50 for me and $1.50 for granddaughter.

It sure wasn't like when we went to school. None of the kids were allowed to talk at all to each other during their lunch hour. After they finished eating, they had to read a book that they brought with them. There were monitors with eyes roving to and fro. If they order milk, they are forced to drink it all. It seemed to me more like I was in a prison cafeteria.

They had to get in no-talking lines to arrive and to leave, all in the same uniforms, and no talking of course, even in the rest rooms. If they talk in lines, they have to go to the principal's office. I sure didn't see much socialization going on there. My home-schooled granddaughter and I were glad to get out of there, and step back into freedom.

This report now seems to have gone offline but originally appeared in "The Ledger", Lakeland, Polk County, Florida, here on 14th April, 2005




Students apathetic, unknowledgeable about 1st Amendment : "Most high school students in the United States do not understand or are apathetic toward the First Amendment [guaranteeing free speech etc.], according to a survey released in January by the University of Connecticut. The survey suggests media studies classes and student journalism give students a greater appreciation and understanding of First Amendment rights than they would have without that background. For the project, 'The Future of the First Amendment,' commissioned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, more than 100,000 students, almost 8,000 teachers, and more than 500 administrators and principals at public and private high schools were surveyed. 'These results are not only disturbing; they are dangerous,' said Knight Foundation President and CEO Hodding Carter III in the Knight news release."

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL schools should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the poor and minimal regulation.

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