More Than 50% of Texas students have been suspended

[SerriaFox]

So the logic is that to punish not going to school... we should make them not go to school more?

No wonder the American school system isn't exactly favored.

Sure, some kids don't care so it'd be justified, but where's the cut off for "cares" and "doesn't care"?

This is what happens when corporal punishment (while not illegal) is not used.

 

[Theige]

I don't think it's that ridiculous.

I was suspended ("in-house") in the seventh grade for playing Mafia Wars during computer class.

 

[JollyRoger]

I don't think it's that ridiculous.

I was suspended ("in-house") for playing a game during computer class.

You're lucky to have a school that coddles you. In the private sector you would be out of a job.

 

[Wolfbeckett]

Considering this is Texas I think we should all be relieved that the kids just get suspended instead of being hogtied to the train tracks.

 

[JollyRoger]

Considering this is Texas I think we should all be relieved that the kids just get suspended instead of being hogtied to the train tracks.

That is saved for prom night.

 

[downtown]

except it would not cause the journalist's expected ignorant readership to get all huffy.

I don't there is expected ignorant readership. This wasn't published in Newsweek, it was published in Ed Weekly, a newspaper that's mostly for teachers, principals, policy people, etc.

Texas is a big state.

Why would that matter?

The other thing is that the numbers here aren't actually too surprising, at least not in being unique to Texas. Schools in a lot of places across the country routinely give minor suspensions these days for very simple offenses, like inappropriate clothing as mentioned or unexcused absences.

Right, and that is one of the questions that should be raised by the article. A suspension is supposed to be a "big deal". It goes on a student record. It takes away learning time. Is it an effective strategy to use on stupid little stuff?

One could argue that many, many states use those sorts of punishments too often but that's a cultural thing, schools are more strict with the worries about lawsuits and investigations and being seen as biased and lots of other things and often institute the sort of "three strikes" equivalent that result in students getting into suspension trouble.

Concern about lawsuits was THE reason why the school where I taught was very worried about suspending kids. I'm not sure if this was a Louisiana requirement, or a requirement imposed on us because we were under Civil Rights investigation, but all of our suspensions got reported to the state (too many hurt our academic progress rate), and there was a parental due process. Taking kids out of the classroom all day results in paperwork. I'd be interested to know how Texas reconciles this.

In the end if this article read "50% of students had received a detention at some point during school" nobody would care, it's the purposeful confusion that some people of older generations won't get that makes this seem like a controversy. Yes, schools probably hand out a lot more in school suspensions relative to traditional detentions these days but it's not the worst thing to worry about.

Because a detention is an hour after school, or missing of lunch. An In-School suspension is missing an entire day, being declared ineligible for athletics or extracurriculars, *and* it goes on a traveling student record. It's more serious.

It's supposed to be the 2nd more serious thing a school can do to a student. If we have to use them that much, are they working? Should we reevaluate how they are used?