Stephen Wallis
2008-06-19 07:00:00.0
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BALTIMORE -

Recent reports in The Examiner on the disruptive and violent culture of Baltimore and surrounding schools are not unlike those outlined daily in national periodicals on the disgraceful conditions of too many of this country’s schools.

It is mind-numbing that those responsible for our schools still fail to understand a fundamental fact:  Any schoolhouse — urban, suburban, rural — devoid of civility, self-discipline and character simply cannot exercise its primary, essential duty of providing to the citizenry a professional learning community — one that values its teaching staff and furnishes its youngsters with a meaningful education. 

Educators, parents and business community representatives openly comment that officials responsible for disruptive schools don’t even pretend learning is at the heart of their mission; should we continue to tolerate such nonsense, we will do so at our own peril. 

The answer to this mayhem lies in a comprehensive, multipronged approach. The education of youngsters requires the shared partnership of school and family.  However, where the supportive parent/guardian component is absent, school leaders must have the intestinal fortitude to rid the schoolhouse of disruptive, violent behavior. Many benighted school officials and board of education members pay lip service to the idea of having safe schools, but they regularly fail to exercise their fiduciary responsibility of operating in loco parentis, initiating an assertive plan to make a school safe and inviting for its staff and students, as well as providing an alternative for the disruptive youngster’s education.

I first addressed this issue in a 1975 Washington area op-ed piece, and hearing officials cite the federal No Child Left Behind Act 30 years later as a reason why many school officials ignore their responsibility (fearing their schools being labeled “persistently dangerous”) is nonsense. To the extent that irresponsible and unsupportive parents have been given the impression by educators that schools must continue to tolerate their incorrigible youngsters, and to the further extent that educators and local education agencies have “defined deviancy down” by tolerating poor behavior from school-age youngsters, Pogo was right: The enemy is us!

The lack of an appropriate teaching-learning environment continues to be the pivotal reason for this country’s lackluster educational performance. 

It’s been my experience that the majority of youngsters are well-adjusted. It is also true that many students in school — public and private — are devoid of some of the most basic social interpersonal skills, showing an abysmal lack of manners, with little to no regard for self-respect, protocol or deference to peers and adults. Worse, these same students often have parents equally as rude, if not hostile to classroom teachers and school officials. That makes it important that schools demand and enforce that dignity and that a respectful demeanor not be lost at the schoolhouse door, using the strong arm of the law when necessary.

Above and beyond academic study, schools must emphasize compassion, the value of hard work, respect, responsibility, civility and character. National rhetoric regarding “setting rigorous standards,” establishing high school “exit exams” and eliminating the “achievement gap” is pure folly when we continue to ignore the main reason such standards and measures are unachievable. School system headquarters and the larger community must support schools if they are to provide an appropriate teaching-learning culture.  

In high-needs schools, it will mean hiring additional staff to assist students with challenges; it will also mean building more alternative schools to address the needs of the more disruptive, violent students. A number of disruptive students exhibit a lifetime’s acculturation of poor traits and habits that educators must attempt to counter before they can actually teach their content area. And while the first and most important teacher in any child’s life is his or her parent, it is clear we’re witnessing an entire generation of kids essentially raising themselves. Like a thief, disruptive, violent students steal the learning potential from hard-working students raised by parents who understand the importance of a shared partnership with the school. 

Successful public schools dot the American landscape, and in these schools, all children can and do learn. Taking an aggressive stance on menacing behavior and committing to professional learning communities in every school will provide an enriching, encouraging environment for our youngsters and staff. 

Stephen Wallis is principal of Harper’s Choice Middle School in Columbia. Reach him at stephen_wallis@hcpss.org.