Suspension 2fer

Suspension is a common way to discipline students who commit an offense against the school’s code of conduct. To suspend a student simply means that they are not allowed to come to school for a certain amount of time because they broke a school rule. Most American school administrators believe that the use of suspension as a tool to discipline students is successful. However, contrary to popular belief, suspension is an extremely ineffective way to discipline students because it only creates a wider gap between them and their education.

One of the biggest flaws with the system of suspension is the lack of communication between the student and administrator. Even though a small meeting is conducted, where the cause of the suspension is discussed. However, it is not enriching enough to make a positive change for the student. After the short meeting, students are isolated from their school campus and are unable to work with their administrators to try to solve the problem that landed them with a suspension in the first place. Students do not learn anything constructive about what went wrong while they were absent. So, they end up in trouble again for similar reasons. Many times, students misbehave due to bullying, personal family issues or even a misunderstanding in the classroom. Instead of removing them from school, the administrator should try to talk with the student along with a psychologist and make them feel heard and understood. These feelings will help improve the student’s behavior. According to the National Association of School Psychologists, “School psychologists work with administrators to design, implement, and garner support for comprehensive school mental health programming, and school mental health programs have been shown to improve educational outcomes by reducing out-of-school suspensions…” By working with a professional who can truly understand the student, the root of the student’s problem can be found.

The system of suspension cause students to unnecessarily fall behind on school work due to missed classes. While the student's peers move onto new subjects in class, they are at home wasting time that could have been used productively. Instead, the student will have to make up the work at a later time while also trying to keep up with current school work. This causes a backup in the student’s academic progress. Suspension can also be harmful to the whole class’s academic success. According to Dignity in Schools, “Schools with high suspension rates score lower on state accountability tests and rank lower in National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) achievement rankings in mathematics, writing and reading than schools with lower suspension rates.” By being absent from even one class, vital class material is missed, making it hard to follow later lessons. So when students come back to school after a suspension, they are lost in many classes. This means that their teachers will have to spend more of their time teaching the same material again, instead of being able to move onto other topics and skills. These negative effects of suspension continue to widen the gap between students and their education.

Another huge flaw with the system of suspension is making students feel excluded and unwelcome in their own school community. After committing an offense, students need support from their school so they can understand where they went wrong and why they shouldn’t do it again. However, when they are suspended, they feel like they are not wanted and don’t belong. This feeling causes students to resort to other activities to pass time. In some cases this means criminal activity. According to Dignity in Schools, “...80 percent of youth incarcerated in a state facility had been suspended...from school.” Instead going to school, students are lured into situations that can possibly land them in jail, like drugs and dangerous gangs. Instead of being suspended, the students should be disciplined while still being able to attend their classes. This would make it so that students would have less time to fall into the trap of criminal activity and would help shorten the gap between them and their education.

When asked, administrators might say that suspension is an effective way to discipline students, but on closer inspection suspensions only ruin the delicate relationship between students and their education. The practice causes students to lose communication with administrators, fall behind academically and even feel unwelcome in their own school community. The best solution to this problem, as mentioned before, is by conducting an additional meeting between the student and administrator with a psychologist on board as well. This technique will also help bridge the gaps between the administrator and student, instead of students feeling resentful towards them and school in general for being punished. This kind of resolution would be a more useful way to spend their time, without creating a gap in the student's education. It could also help come up with a solution to the student’s initial problem.

Citations:

School Psychologists: Improving Student and School Outcomes. N.p.: National Association of School Psychologists, 2011. School Psychologists: Improving Student and School Outcomes. National Association of School Psychologists. Web.

"Fact Sheet on School Discipline and the Pushout Problem." Fact Sheet on School Discipline and the Pushout Problem (2010): n. pag. Fact Sheet on School Discipline and the Pushout Problem. Dignity in Schools. Web.