Discipline as a serious concern in schools

DISCIPLINE has become an area of serious concern in today’s classroom especially with the deteriorating behavior of children now a days. A lot of students today seemed to have developed a new code of conduct that includes actedoutrage, lack of respect and blame. Children at times shrug you off, ignoring what you have to say. More seriously ill- behaved students would threaten, hurl invectives, hit or punch the walls, break things in class or call you names.

Disrespectful behavior in schools across the country is widely recognized. We see examples of them on television and in the movies. This behavior of some children is very frustrating to teachers. More frustrating however is the fact that educators find their hands tied when dealing with disruptive children. They lack the tools they used to have in dealing with the unruliest kids. Formerly, they can expel such kids in school. The limits placed on teachers in regard to the ex- tremes with which discipline can be issued effectively strips educators of the authority to transfer or to suspend students who are “unmanageable” or those considered as “antisocial.”

With the restriction from the law, school officials can’t respond forcefully when these kids get into fights, curse teachers, or even put students and staff at serious risk. Teachers are now given limited options when disciplining students. In some cases, teachers and administrators are afraid discipline a child for fear of a lawsuit if they handle the situation incorrectly.

Exploring this dilemma of teachers, I think we cannot blame them now if they choose to be safe than sorry. Their meager salary would not even suffice to pay for lawyers should they inadvertently mishandle discipline cases. Poor teachers. They face the toughest job. They are expected to know a lot yet we forget that they are humans too. I just think something isn’t right about the seemingly lack of laws to protect teachers. Rowena S. Cañada