Charger Opinion

Suspension: harsh punishment or paid vacation?

Josh Mattingly , Charger Staff

Since the first schools began in ancient times, there were undoubtedly troublemakers sitting in the back of the crowd hurling spit wads at Socrates’ big fat Greek head.

As in the days of old, the modern classroom also hosts students who have trouble following the rules.

These rebellious youngsters have been silenced in many ways since behavior problems began in the classroom of Socrates, and since, many methods have been employed in attempts to fill the disciplinary void. The French favored the guillotine, the British enjoyed an old fashioned tar and feathering, and we Americans have replaced old fashioned paddlings or other forms of corporal punishment with suspension.

For those unfamiliar with this practice, suspension is a method of punishing a student by dismissing him from class for any given number of days to enjoy Rikki Lake and other daytime television programs. Offenses punishable by suspension include skipping class, smoking in the bathroom, and writing obscene messages to the principal.

Regardless of the offense, however, suspension is an ineffective, impractical device that does more to alienate the offender rather than set him back on the correct path. Suspending a student for his actions causes his grades, among other things, to suffer instead of the student himself.
In addition, suspension fails to state the message “If a student misbehaves, then he will be punished,” and replaces it with the current motto “Misbehave and receive a vacation.” Basically, suspension is ineffective in that it fails to teach an offender a lesson and impractical in the sense that it does not directly punish the offender.

The childish, caveman-like practice of excluding a student from school for his actions should be replaced by a more efficient and more effective method of discipline.

Granted the guillotine and tarring and feathering are far from the practical solution which must be obtained to properly correct the disciplinary problems we currently face, a happy medium must lie somewhere between the cold, harsh, and brutal method of suspension and that of past cultures.

We must find this solution and apply it as soon as possible before any more damage is done by the tyranny that is suspension.