SHORT COMMUNICATION 349
It Was Chaos Unlimited
By
Roger Behra
A recent survey
classified California's high schools and ranked them according to the number of
students who graduate with diploma in hand. Four groups of schools were
classified: Catholic; other religious; private; public. Catholic schools were
the best, and public schools were the worst. Only 35 percent of public school
students graduated with diploma in hand while 99 percent of Catholic school
students did so. This means 65 percent of public school students were failures.
There is a good reason for that: Discipline problems were a major cause, and
especially in the state of California.
High school
discipline problems begin in the intermediate schools. That's been the trend
for a very long time, and they are not strict enough at that lower level. They
just do not do a good job of niping bad discipline in the bud. The following is
just how bad it has gotten in one Intermediate Public School at Santa Ana
Unified campus in California.
It was an awful
situation at Spurgeon Intermediate Public School. The lack of any kind of
controlable discipline went on daily. It was that way for quite some time,
because the district handled the situation very poorly. That forced 36 teachers
to file a hostile work situation notice.
What actually went on
at Spurgeon? Pre-teens along with teens were involved. The rough element took
over and was running the place. They physically accosted the teachers. They regularly
tripped fire alarms. They argued with security staff. They threw objects during
class sessions. They turned over desks.
During class sessions they made sexual noises. They ran through
hallways, banged on doors as class was in progress, and uttered obscene words. One
brazen student even smoked marijuana in class in front of a substitute teacher.
They threw eggs at teachers, set fires in urinals, and even spit on teachers. Over
a period of time the whole discipline structure collapsed, and the good
students greatly suffered by not getting the education they deserved. To make
matters worse there just weren't any consequences.
Finally, 36 teachers
and parents of the good students got a complaint filed and the district had no
choice but to restore discipline. Arrests have been made and strict suspensions
have been handed down. The chaos unlimited was coming to an abrupt end.
It boils down to
this: Discipline must come first. Without that little or no education takes
place. In Spurgeon Intermediate where
disorder and confusion was, education and learning was not. That was the result
of the chaos unlimited. Let us hope Spurgeon Intermediate once again becomes a
place of learning and an educational place of acceptance. It has been long
overdue, indeed.
R. B.
4-12-13
