Another S.F. middle school falls into disciplinary chaos | Hacker News Reader

Another S.F. middle school falls into disciplinary chaos

sfexaminer.com

16 pointshitekker14 comments

I have a friend who started a charter school. He said the reason charter schools do better is nothing to do with teaching, it is that they are allowed to kick out the trouble makers.

Public schools are required to take all applicants. In the past my town had a special school where you got sent if you were caught with drugs or other major infraction.

Maybe try the Danegeld approach? If a student is good all week give them $50 on Friday.

So children of privilege can behave however they want?

That’s not what OP said. In public schools, there are no consequences versus charter schools. Whether you’re privileged or not is not entirely correlated with if you have the capacity to be a functional, effective student.

But OP proposed a solution based on carrots, giving students $50 a week for good behavior. Students born with privilege will obtain a smaller benefit from this system, and will behave how they wish.

Propose an alternative mechanism. If you can’t use a stick, and you can’t use a carrot, how else will you encourage behavior conducive to educational achievement?

Now you're getting it.

I take it that you knew the person was joking, and you're just being...............???? Argumentative? Devil's advocate?

A troll.

More a gadfly, really.

Look, the point of school is about creating good citizens, not necessarily academics. That's what these policies have sought to address. And if students aren't exposed to difficult situations in schools they won't know how to handle them when they get out into the real world or something.

The correct answer in the real world is to leave (and possibly call the police).

Leaving school is a crime for minors.

Well now you're speaking from privilege. Maybe you can escape from your dysfunctional circumstances but a lot of people can't.

Adversity can be character-building as you say, but too much can be disruptive or traumatic, especially for a child. Studying next to beatings, arrests, and armed classmates sounds like the latter end of the spectrum.

Bullying does nothing to teach people about difficult situations. It’s just unnecessary cruelty.

I’m not an American but I can echo a sentiment noticed in this thread. When I attended a private school, the rules were clear, bullying will get you suspended or expelled faster than you could pull it off and students saw virtually no bullying.

Then I switched to a Public school where students bullied extensively with the teachers and administrators turning a blind eye…I forever loathe that school and will never send my children to a public school because of this.

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