In most classes with a chronically disruptive child, none of the children are being educated. That's why parents are angry.
Every poll shows that the American people say discipline is the number one problem in the schools. In focus groups, parents say that they don't believe any proposed reforms will work if there is a chronically disruptive student in the class. What should be done? Agreement is overwhelming. For example, "First Things First," the Public Agenda report released last year, found that 76 percent of white parents and 79 percent of African- American parents say disruptive students should be removed from class; and a recent Gallup poll found that 77 percent of all Americans favor educating these youngsters in alternative settings. This would allow the vast majority of students to learn and the few disruptive students to get special help.
This proposal is now part of the American Federation of Teachers' national campaign on standards of conduct and standards for achievement. We are working to get school boards, administrators, parents, community groups, business executives, and policymakers to back this proposal and insist that it be faithfully enforced.
When I talk about educating consistently disruptive students in alternative settings, members of the press and the general public often ask, "Why do you need a national campaign to push for this? Isn't it just common sense?" They're right, of course. But it's not happening in the schools because many school officials reject common sense in favor of "sophisticated" arguments.
A classic example occurred recently when I spoke on this and other issues to a national organization representing urban school boards and superintendents. After my speech, I received a nasty letter from the executive director of the organization. The letter does not represent the views of all the members of the organization, but many school board members and administrators would agree with it. The letter illustrates perfectly why public schools are in trouble and why we need a national campaign for common sense.
First, it accused me of wanting to exclude "children from school because they have been disruptive." Because I had said that failure to respond to disruptive behavior leads to peer pressure on other students to become disruptive, I was charged with creating a "conspiratorial scenario" and told that there was serious "doubt that such events occur often." And then our campaign was attacked as "a national campaign of exclusion" because we propose to place disruptive students in alternative settings.
The attack continued. My failure to provide an exact blueprint of alternative settings was taken as evidence that my "interests extend only to children who do not present teachers with any problems. As leaders of our nation's urban schools," he continued, "we believe our responsibilities include educating all children -- not just those who sit still all day." And there's more! Asking that violent and chronically disruptive students be educated separately "has the classic ring of blaming the victim .... "
There you have it. To hell with what the overwhelming majority of teachers, parents, citizens, and students want! The letter writer -- and the school officials who go along with him -- know what's right and that's that! This is the attack that faces the teacher or parent who dares to complain.
We can fight back. These people distort the proposal to educate disruptive children in alternative settings by charging that we seek to exclude these students from education. They say that disruptive behavior is something that doesn't "occur often" -- even though parents see it, together with its magnification through bullying and peer pressure, as problem number one. They present themselves as good guys who want to educate all the children and accuse us of being bad guys who only want to educate the easy ones. But are they educating all the children? In most classes with a disruptive child, none of the children are being educated. That's why parents are angry.
They speak sneeringly about the great majority of kids who come to school and want to learn, calling them the children "who sit still all day." As for parents and teachers who want to educate the disruptive in alternative settings so that all can learn -- they are accused of "blaming the victim." The writer of this letter and the school board members and administrators who support this point of view have turned everything upside down! While they pretend to occupy the moral high ground, they don't care at all about the real victims, the overwhelming majority of students whose education is being destroyed by a handful of students. Their only concern is for the chronically disruptive students whom they labor to protect from the consequences of their own actions. And they are not even doing the right thing for these students.
By refusing alternative placement for disruptive students, they are denying them the help and special attention they need and can rarely get in a regular classroom. They are clearly saying that all the other children the well-behaved children, whose life circumstances may be as horrific as those of the disruptive ones -- can be damned. Their position is clear, and it is immoral.
As for trying to shift the blame to teachers, that's an old trick. When I was a beginning teacher in the 1950's and was assaulted by a student, I asked the principal for help. Instead, I got the following note: "Mr. Shanker: This would not have happened if you had motivated your students. I'd like to see your planbook. I'll be in to observe you soon." The message was clear: Whenever you report a disruptive student, I'll blame you, not the student, so handle your own problems and don't bother me.
Do the letter writer and the other school officials he is talking for really believe what they're saying? By now they probably do. For many years, the only pressure they've felt has come from other individuals and groups who advocate for violent and disruptive students. That's why we need a national campaign. These people need to hear from the overwhelming majority of parents and citizens, who have never before been organized or mobilized. They don't want to switch to vouchers or private schools to get a good education for their children, and they don't have to. We can take back the public schools. They belong to all of us -- and especially to the students who come to school and want to learn.