“The backlash against
no excuses discipline in high school”
By: Sarah Carrnov
Level of Difficulty: ****
BEFORE YOU READ
Watch the following videos and discuss them. How strict
should school administrators be?
QUESTIONS
1. Why
did Summer Daskin say “It felt like I was in elementary school”?
·
There were rules governing how Summer dressed
·
There were rules during break time
·
There were too many rules governing everything
·
Teachers praised students for following the
rules
2. What
is the justification for this no excuses type of policy at schools?
3. The
writer says “Some go further”. Further than what? Saying that ……………………………………….
4. What
additional undesirable consequence is harsh discipline claimed to have? It
paves the way to………………………
5. What
important aspect of individual development was not emphasized in the schools in
New Orleans after hurricane Katrina?
6. What
does “this theory” in the phrase “There was no better place to apply this
theory” refer to?
7. Looking
back to the days before the charter schools in New Orleans, it can be said that
the reformers have been successful because………………………………………………………………………………..
8. The
New Orleans Teachers and parents favored strict discipline because they believed
it would get them ………………………...but parents wanted discipline for another reason
too. It was the desire to ……………
9. What
conclusion can be reached upon reading the paragraph beginning “As adolescence
arrives”?
10. What
similarity is there between charter schools and the job market in New Orleans?
11. There
seems to be disagreement concerning the effect of ……………………..on overall academic
success according to the text.
12. Racial
bias seems to be a factor influencing suspension as…………………………………………The fact
these students …………………………………………..proves that the decision to ban “discretionary
discipline tactics” was right.
13. How
dependable are the suspension figures presented by charter schools in New
Orleans? How do you know?
14. The
text states that “some have called the problem the progress trap” Why exactly
is a “rigidly rule based mentality” a progress trap? Because it taught
……………………………….instead of …………………, ……………………..and …………………………………………….
15. The
top down management system popular in charter schools was relaxed at Cohen
College when………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
16. The
administrators at Cohen College are trying to reach a compromise
between…………………….
17. KIPP
Renaissance has reached the conclusion
that over use of the disciplinary practice of ……………………………………is
counterproductive as a lot of students end up in trouble with the law rather than
going on to college.
18. The
words on Summer’s wrist band imply the following……………………….(Use your own words)
19. The
fundamental reason for the disillusionment with the Charter schools is the fact
that……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
WRITING TASK
Write an argumentative essay in which you discuss the extent of
discipline that should be applied at schools and what punitive measures, if
any, should be implemented. Remember to justify your position and refute
counter arguments.
HOW STICT IS TOO STRICT KEY AND
TEACHER’S NOTES
This highly topical text discusses
the age old problem of how strict schools need to be, what constitutes
misbehavior and how to penalize students. It does this in relation to the
“Charter School” movement in the US which popularized draconian rules and
stringent discipline. The text leads to a wonderful argumentative essay.
1. C
2. To
send all their graduates, many of them first-generation college aspirants, on
to higher education
3. That
the no excuses approach more effectively contributes to very different results:
a flagrant form of two tiered education and a rise in racially skewed
suspension and expulsion rates for low level misbehavior.
4. To
prison (rather than college)
5. Individual
expression
6. The
(controversial)broken window theory
7. Academic
performance has improved citywide (nearly two thirds of students…)
8. To
college; keep their children safe
9. Strict
enforcement gets harder but no less urgent in the eyes of many families in
urban settings like New Orleans and for good reason.
10. Employees
who make even a small misstep can be speedily replaced with new hires who don’t
show up late forget their uniform or talk back to customers
11. Suspension
12. Starting
in preschool, black children are suspended and expelled at far higher rates
than white students are despite little objective evidence that they behave any
worse; were nearly three times as likely
to come into contact with the juvenile justice system the following year.
13. Not
very because several students complained that they were sometimes sent home “off
the books” with nobody documenting the dismissal and minimal or no inquiry into
the circumstances that led to misbehavior.
14. Obedience
for obedience’s sake; (increasing) self control, the ability to think critically,
navigate course work independently
15. The
principal and other administrators held town hall meetings where they solicited
students’ views on school rules, and hammered out compromises.
16. Structure
and flexibility
17. Suspension
18. The
desire to express herself freely; individual expression
19. School
disciplinarians had failed to cultivate a shared sense of direction and the
trust that goes with it.
