Recently I attended an orientation meeting for elementary school students and their parents. My experience disturbed my conscious and left me feeling nauseous. In this blog, I tell the story of what happen at the orientation.
The orientation was facilitated by the schools new principal who had been transferred to the school on August 2nd. The agenda of the meeting was as follows:
I. Personal Background
II. Philosophy
III. School Goals
IV. Discipline Approach
V. Mentoring Program
VI. Title One Parent Involvement Money
VII. Survey
VIII. Question and Answer
I walked into the library of the school at 3:07 which was seven minutes after the orientation had begun. As I walked in, the principal began to go over the philosophy of the school. I sat down next to the grandparent of a student. She passed me an agenda. As looked over the agenda, I instantly thought there was something missing. As I read over it again, I realized there wasn’t an agenda item to discuss the school’s curriculum. I dismissed the fact, assuming the curriculum would be discussed in the School Goals agenda item.
By the time we got to the School Goals portion, some parents had drifted off in thoughts or were bored and unengaged. The principal outlined a series of goals, one being make the school a Blue Ribbon school by 2017. Although the goals sounded reasonable, there was little to no explanation of how he and the staff intended to accomplish the goals. Naturally, this concerned me, especially since there was no mention of an evaluation of the goals at the end of the academic year. At this point, I began to think I was being too critical, but I couldn’t help but wonder why one school’s goals was to become a Blue Ribbon school, but there was no discussion of the means to get there.
While I was wrestling with my dispositions, the principal switched to the Discipline Approach agenda item. He spent the most time discussing the school’s disciplinary approach. He explained that behavior was one of the biggest issues identified by the staffed as problems of last school year. Because of this, the school intends to focus on fixing the disciplinary problems. He introduced a chart that had a grid on it. In the grid, were the names of locations and how a student should act in the given location. At this point, I could not repress my thoughts. Why is it so important to micromanage the behavior of elementary school students at every location? Is this what education is about?
As the principal continued to explain the need to fix discipline in the school, parents began get engaged in the meeting nodding their heads in agreement. It appeared like the parents thought there should be large focus on discipline. I was shocked. The situation would have been less shocking if I had heard a real plan around curriculum. I couldn't help but wonder why it was so important to control behavior issues. As an educator, I know from experience that a larger focus on discipline versus curriculum leads to more behavioral problems. I’m a firm believer that the solution to most disciplinary problems is based on lack of student engagement in curriculum. Students who aren’t engage in the learning resort to finding something else to do.
This disciplinary issue is bigger than it seems. But the truth is disciplinary systems such as the one I describe are forms of control and indoctrination; the management of people’s actions by those presumed to be the authorities. I am not saying that school staff shouldn’t deal with the problems as the surface. What I encourage is a strong curriculum incorporating pedagogy and activities that help student use the stored energy rather than a militant approach.
-Bryant