Escape violence in classrooms with school choice
Violent Attacks on Teachers Highlight the Need for School Choice
A teacher on the outskirts of Cincinnati is recovering from brain surgery after a student violently attacked her earlier this month. The 60-year-old teacher was harmed so severely by a teenager that doctors had to remove part of her skull to help manage swelling in her brain.
Last spring, a Tennessee teenager pepper-sprayed a teacher for confiscating her phone. Also last year, a Texas administrator was beaten to the ground by a group of students.
The Importance of School Culture and Safety
- As school choice expands across the country, millions more parents have the chance to send their children to schools that best meet their needs.
- Parents know their children best, and they know a child’s best educational fit is based on more than only test scores and graduation rates.
- Academic performance is critically important, but so too are intangible factors that shape a child’s educational experience.
- School culture is one of the top factors parents consider in choosing where to send their kids to school.
The most recent Parent Involvement in Education survey, conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics in 2019, found that 71 percent of parents who considered sending their children to a school other than their government-assigned one rated “safety, including school discipline” as “very important.” Only 53 percent ranked “academic performance of students (e.g. test scores, dropout rates)” the same way.
This concern for discipline and safety is not surprising. No parents want to send their children somewhere unsafe. Sadly, many schools tolerate bad behavior and thus foster more of it, creating an environment where teachers can hardly teach and students can hardly learn.
The Rise of School Violence and its Causes
- School violence is on the rise for several reasons, two of which can be tied directly to policies pushed by teachers unions and fringe civil rights groups.
- Prolonged school closures resulting from the pandemic have led to a decline in good behavior by students.
- The “restorative justice” disciplinary model, embraced by teachers unions and administered by school systems, has replaced real consequences with ineffective practices.
Under restorative justice, suspending and expelling a student is to be avoided at all costs. Real consequences are replaced by “healing circles,” sidelining school resource officers and undermining teacher authority.
Every single one of the violent incidents noted above happened in a school or school district that has embraced restorative justice policies.
The Solution: Education Freedom and School Choice
- Education freedom can help solve this problem.
- Several studies have demonstrated that school choice leads to safer schools.
A good school, the kind of school parents seek out for their kids when they have school choice, is one that not only excels academically but maintains high standards of behavior. Such schools excel academically in no small part because they maintain high standards of behavior. Test scores are only one piece of the education freedom puzzle. Parents see the full picture, and education leaders would do well to follow suit.
What percentage of teachers in the United States reported being physically attacked or threatened with violence by a student in the 2015-2016 school year?
Uses
The recent violent attacks on teachers highlight the urgent need for school choice and the importance of prioritizing safety in our education system. By expanding school choice options, parents have the opportunity to select schools that prioritize safety and discipline, creating a positive learning environment for their children. Investing in school safety resources and fostering partnerships between schools and the community can further contribute to creating safe school environments that allow teachers to teach and students to learn without fear of violence. It is time to address the rise in school violence and ensure the safety of our educators and students. School choice is a critical tool in achieving this goal. Sources:
The Role of School Choice in Addressing School Violence
Success Stories of Safe School Environments
The Importance of Investing in School Safety
Conclusion
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