Discipline Problems In American High School

Discipline Problems in American High School

There are many problems in American high schools today. These problems consist of truancy, class disruption, fighting, abusive language, and extreme violence such as shooting and other violent acts. Not only do these problems occur in city schools, but they also occur in rural and suburban schools.

Truancy is a very common problem in most high schools. In Philadelphia on an average day 27, 000 of the districts 191, 000 public school students are absent from school. The average number of days missed by high school seniors was forty-one in Philadelphia. Some truants avoid school because they are afraid of violence. Truancy is against the law in most states usually kids caught skipping would be turned over to a truancy officer who would then call their parents and let them go home. Although truancy is one of the many problems in American high schools there are still plenty more.

Classroom disruption has gotten extremely bad that teachers feel as if they are being bullied by their students."40% of teachers in Ontario, Toronto feel that they are bullied on the daily basis (Edmonton Journal A9)". The bulling ranges from verbal abuse, racial slurs, sexual slurs and even threats of violence. Some of these teachers have suffered from stress, anxiety and depression as a result of the repeated disruptions. The provinces teachers union of Ontario randomly surveyed more than 1,200 teachers during a two week period. Of the 1,200 teachers surveyed 60 percent of the teachers reported witnessing a student verbally abusing a teacher." In Santee, California the education department budgeted about $500 million for anti-violence programs"(NewYorkTimes A22) to stop thing like this from happening in their schools.

Kids these days have really gotten out of hand with their swearing and cursing at teachers. A high school in northwest Connecticut has come up with a way to stop these students from using this bad language. The school has assigned city police officers to distribute citations to students who decide to use profane language because the profanity has gotten so out of hand. "The reason for this is to bring order back to school." (GottliebA1) said Sandy Cruz Senior adviser to Superintendent of schools of that county in Connecticut. If the students don't pay their fines then the parent have to pay or accompany their child to court. The cost of the fine is $103 and if it isn't done the student would have to appear in court.

Fighting happens everyday on most school campuses. What happens when students fight and teachers and administration often break it up? At Madison Park High located in Boston, Mass Violent female feuds are now a routine at the sound of the lunch time bell. One altercation started when a female just approached another female and hit her for no reason. Another altercation started when a female thought another female student skirt was too short. The student who started the fight had to be handcuffed by police after she bit a teacher who was trying to break up the altercation.

Bullying started as just physical harassment .Now and days bulling is a form of aggression in which a student or a group of students bullies another student for no reason at all (Ma 351). Boys are more likely to get involved in bulling more than girls. Boys bully more than girls by a ratio of 3 to 1(Ma).At Miami's Piper High School a star football player that was a bully was stabbed to death by his alleged victim's cousins. The victim was told if he reported the incidents to administration that the attacks would only increase. On Nov.22 the victim was getting jumped by the bully and his accomplices when the victim's cousin leaped into the fight and stabbed the bully with an ice pick. The star football player died from a single puncture wound to the chest.

Vandalism is taking its tolls on American high schools everyday. Schools that are large and have staff that is hostile toward students are more likely to be vandalized. The U.S "Department of Education estimated that two hundred and thirty-four out of

100, 000 students are involved in vandalism"(Black15)." Kids who are not involved in extracurricular activities end up