Keeping Colorado Students in School |TODAY|

Submitted by dan. on 2007-09-24 23:27.
Law Enforcement | Public Education

Ladies and gentlemen, we have two school discipline plans before the house. In one corner is a recent get-tough proposal... [that] calls for stricter enforcement of a three-strikes-you're-out policy for troublemakers who end up in the principal's office.... In the other corner is an approach to discipline called restorative justice, which focuses on changing behavior and clearly contemplates keeping more kids in regular schools.

Suspensions and expulsions do nothing to keep at-risk students in school or engage them in any way that will discourage them from dropping out. The very children who most need to be in class instead are barred from the learning environment. The contradiction must be obvious to them.

Meanwhile, examining the underlying causes of injurious behavior, recognizing its impact, agreeing on fair remedies, and identifying ways to avoid similar incidents represent an essential dimension of education. Mistakes are part of life; students must be allowed, and helped, to learn from theirs.

And in a society plagued by an absence of self-control and the inability to manage emotional responses to conflict, restorative justice teaches individual respect and responsibility, and fosters understanding of different views. It offers productive alternatives to aggression as a means of resolving disputes, and encourages acceptance of the concept of agreeing to disagree.

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