By JODI WESTRICK
Observer Staff
NOV. 1, 2007

“I will not misbehave.”
Photo by Observer Staff

With much of the education spotlight on the re-authorization of the No Child Left Behind act, education professionals took a break Wednesday to address another disturbing trend in classrooms across America – disruptive behavior and its impact on learning and school culture.

Sponsored by Common Good, a non-partisan legal reform coalition dedicated to “restoring common sense to America,” the series of panel discussions focused on the issues effecting both students and teachers within the classroom and what can be done to ensure students are getting the education they deserve.

The panel – ranging from a special education teacher to a former principal of a Bronx, N.Y., public school – identified some of the most common forms of classroom disruption. Threats to teachers, bullying of other classmates, interference by parents and other safety issues topped the list.

According to Deborah Wadsworth, senior adviser for Public Agenda, students are realizing that their schools have serious problems, and that it’s impacting their education.

“These students – young teenagers, not easily shocked adults – say their schools have very serious problems with drugs and alcohol abuse, weapons and fighting, truancy, lack of respect for teachers and widespread profanity,” Wadsworth said. “In fact 57 percent of Black students, 47 percent of Hispanic, say that in their schools teachers often spend more time trying to keep order in class than teaching.”

Despite identifying the difficulties that classroom disruptions cause and agreeing that the issue was a problem, the panel was not in agreement as to what was behind the increase or who was responsible. Much of the discussion was spent determining who was to blame. Some turned to inefficient school administrations, others to a lack of qualified teachers, and some to the level of parental involvement in the school community.

Dee Phillips, special assistant to the president of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, reasoned that disorder begins with four basic problems: large over-sized schools, overcrowded classrooms, lack of materials and supplies, and a lack of enforcement of the school’s code of conduct.

Frederick Brigham, an associate professor of special education at George Mason University, argued that blaming education problems on unqualified professionals was wrong.

“I keep hearing people say ‘American schools fail to attract the best and the brightest,’” he said. “This doesn’t seem to be a great way to get the best and brightest into our schools.”

Brigham also noted that most young teachers last only about three to five years at a school, eventually moving on to other professions because of the pressure placed on them during their first year of teaching.

Drema Brown, a former public school principal the Bronx and director of Aspiring Principals and School Achievement, gave an account of a fictional student, Marcus, and the pressures placed on him not just in school, but also in his home life and community. Disjointed families, changing schools and bullying by classmates puts a lot of unneeded stress on students, causing them to act out, Brown said.

Adding further to the theories behind the disruptiveness of students, Deborah Meier, senior scholar at the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University, blamed the lack of interaction between adults and students as a prime reason for the deviant behavior.

“Back in the days of Laura Ingalls Wilder, children left school at 12 or 13 and joined the adult community,” Meier said. “Today, the primary company of students is their peers. Primary interaction with adults is limited to their fascination with celebrities.”

Meier then noted the importance of helping children succeed in the classroom.

“At the heart of one of those prefaces is producing a generation of future adults that will have the habits needed of a democratic society to thrive,” she said.