NYC-Feature Story

Kick Them Out!
I say banish the bad kids

By Chantal Hylton

Names have been changed.

It was my junior year and I walked into my sixth period business class prepared not to learn. I knew the course of events that would unfold, so when my teacher began the lesson I listened cautiously. I already knew that engaging in the lesson was just a set up for disappointment.


	Lesson 1: Practice for Regents Exam Listening Section

	Lesson 2: Disruptive Students (reading/ summarizing lesson)

Sure enough, 10 minutes into the period, a group of five rowdy kids walked in late. Over the teacher’s voice, they talked loudly about what had happened over the weekend. I knew that the lesson had come to an end. I took out my textbook and proceeded to teach myself.

Meanwhile, Ms. Dawkins asked them to take a seat and be quiet, and they responded with attitude.

“Miss, can’t you see that’s what I’m doing? Why you always got to start with me?”

Thus began the shouting match:

“I’ll call your mother!”

“I don’t care.”

“I’ll write you up to the dean.”

“Fine, do what you have to do.”

“I’ll deduct points from your grade.”

“Whatever.”

Eventually, the teacher called security and had them removed from the classroom. The response: “Miss, why you always got to call security? It’s not even that serious.”

Wasted Class Time

By the time the security guards escorted the disruptive kids out and Ms. Dawkins finished lecturing us about our horrible behavior, class was almost over. We finally got back to the lesson, but the bell rang two minutes later. It was another 45 minutes of my life wasted. The next day, I knew, those same kids would show up late and it would be déjà vu all over again.

I have encountered this scene regularly during my years in the New York City public school system. The students, grade levels, and schools might change, but it amounts to the same thing at the end of the day: A majority of students suffer and miss out on vital information as a result of a few out-of-control classmates. It is not fair and should not be tolerated.

For years, the things that my peers got away with in school fascinated and often upset me. I always wondered when and where the line would be drawn. So, when I heard about a principal who did just that—he drew the line and followed through with consequences—I thought it might be the start of the reform that is desperately needed in schools.

Banishing the Troublemakers

The principal was Paul Pedota, and he was in charge of Franklin K. Lane High School, a rough school in a crime-ridden neighborhood. With more than 3,000 students and lots of behavior problems to deal with, Mr. Pedota and other administrators were accused of pressuring hundreds of disruptive or failing kids to transfer to GED programs or drop out.

In 2003, an advocacy group and some of the students who had been pushed out sued the school. They accused Pedota of illegally kicking them out and depriving them of an education.

When The New York Times reported on the case, it noted that the kids who were pushed out were “the ones who skip classes, hang out in the halls, get into fights or do not show up at all for days on end. And in a school where basic discipline is a daily problem, getting rid of those students can make it easier to maintain order for those who do show up and do their work.”

But the school backed down and promised to stop pushing kids out.

Educators, Not Disciplinarians

Maybe some of the kids didn’t deserve it, but I think Mr. Pedota was completely justified in throwing out the most disruptive students.

Class disruptions are recurring events that happen with teachers of different sexes, races, and ages, leading me to believe that the problem lies in my peers, not the school. If they don’t want to learn, that’s fine, but why should I become another undereducated statistic because of them?

At least once a month I’ve had a teacher get so fed up that she’s stopped the lesson and refused to carry on. Out of frustration, some of my teachers have said things like, “You’re wasting your own time. I still get paid whether you learn or not.”

That might not be the best way to deal with a difficult student, but it is not the job of the school system or teachers to force students to follow the rules, especially not at a high school level. Teachers are there to educate, not serve as disciplinarians.

My Right to Learn

It is not fair, either to the teacher or other students, for quality time to be wasted on those who don’t care to learn. At Franklin K. Lane, some of the students who were pushed out skipped school or behaved inappropriately so routinely that they were years behind. This was their choice and they should be held responsible for it.

After all, when we infringe on others’ rights by assaulting someone or stealing, we are met with consequences. School should be no different. When we interfere with others’ right to an education by being disruptive, there should also be consequences.

Personally, I think that teachers and principals should be allowed to kick more students out of schools. If the possibility of being kicked out doesn’t force a student to take school seriously, nothing will. And without constant disruption, maybe the education system would become more about learning and less like daycare.

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