Classroom discipline important, but tricky
Dr. Wallace: I read your column on a regular basis. I agree with you some of the time, but most often I take the opposite view. I’m a seventhand eighth-grade math, science and Latin teacher at a private parochial school. I demand the strictest student discipline — and I get just that, not just occasionally, but 100 percent of the time.
Why does this occur? I use corporal punishment and it’s extremely effective. I’m not talking about inflicting long-term pain on a student. When a student misbehaves, I use a ruler to rap the student firmly on the knuckles. Trust me, it gets their attention. On what I deem serious classroom infractions (I have very few), the student is sent to the principal’s office and given up to three swats with a wooden paddle on his rear end.
As you can see, I’m a firm believer in strong classroom discipline. I cringe when I hear stories about students in public schools running wild in the classroom, swearing, throwing things, hitting one another, and even selling drugs. The teacher can do nothing because a bunch of “kids can do anything” school-board members won’t allow corporal punishment. They are too worried about the school district getting sued and then having to pay a lot of money.
That’s why their parents are sending their children to church-operated private schools, or home-teaching them. I know you’re against corporal punishment. I hope my letter will change your mind, but somehow I doubt it will. — Teacher, Boston, Mass.
ROBERT WALLACE
Teacher: I was an administrator in a high school in Southern California with a student body of over 2,000. It was my responsibility to make sure every student had the opportunity to receive a quality education. Strict discipline is highly important. An unruly student can disrupt an entire classroom. Every high school in our district had seven counselors and two assistant principals. The prime responsibility of these professionals was to insure that those students who broke the rules were sent to a study room and could not return to class until a parent-administrator conference took place.
No disciplinary program is 100 percent effective, but I can assure you that the students at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove were not “running wild” in the classroom when I was there. When you place over 2,000 teens on a 40-acre campus, discipline eruptions occur and discipline is enforced, but at no time were students paddled or rapped on the knuckles.
I’m happy to hear that you don’t believe in inflicting long-lasting pain on a student. Then again, if you did, it would be a criminal offence and we wouldn’t want superb teachers like you to be forced to spend time away from students instead of teaching them math, science, and Latin.