- Joined
- Jan 13, 2016
- Messages
- 38,073
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- Location
- Norfolk Virginia area.
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- Male
- Political Leaning
- Independent
1) I don't believe in quitting on kids. There SHOULD be consequences. That is an important life lesson, but the real way to create a criminal is to quit on him. This kid isn't a "bully." He is a "tough guy." He thinks he is a badass. I'm sure we can guess his home life and the system he is in. And he is still a kid. Giving up on him isn't going to prevent any future thuggish behavior. The question is...how far can we go as a society to treat/reform the behavior? And does it work? I can tell you from personal experience...bad kids are not all bad. They are a product of nurture. Not just nature.
2)As for zero tolerance...zero tolerance for zero tolerance policies. Even violence. Example? I had a kid who was in 9th grade being bullied by an 18 year old junior. The 9th grader was grabbed and drug away from a table and the freshman took a swing (missed because my students got between and broke it up as I grabbed the junior who actually tried to hit me...to no avail...and he thought I was a student I think). Zero tolerance means we had to suspend both the victim and the bully.
We gave a call to the parents of the victim and informed them to consider it a vacation and that he did nothing wrong in our eyes. He defended himself and we had witnesses, but due to liability concerns we have to follow our policies. We will make sure he gets his work...blah blah blah.
Tl,dr...
Prison doesn't reform behavior and that should be the objective when dealing with an undisciplined student. Reform.
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You are 90% correct. But, there are so many other intangibles to each and every case of juvenile behavior. But you get the jest of it.....for sure.