RE: THE EDUCATION ISSUE

This year’s Education Issue focused on high school, including Susan Dominus’s report on alternative methods of punishment deployed in schools, like “restorative justice,” which involves students and teachers openly discussing their feelings. The issue also included Nicholson Baker’s lessons learned during his time as a substitute teacher.

As a former high-school teacher, count me among those who think “restorative justice” is another burden piled on overworked teachers. In the schools where I’ve worked, teachers already do so much to prevent having to suspend students. It’s called classroom management, and none of it is reflected in the article. It’s truly rare for a student to commit an offense requiring a suspension without committing many less serious offenses first. Teachers are likely to first have to speak to the student during and after class, meet with the student and an administrator, have the student serve after-­school detention, keep a paper and electronic trail and meet with the student and parent.

Indeed, nowhere in the article is the parent’s role explored. If a school is forcing a student to stay home, he or she has to be notified, so getting the parent in before anything happens would appear to be a good idea.