Our article on student suspensions published Thursday sparked many reactions. Here are a few. We have chosen to only publish the first names of certain parents to avoid their children being identified.
Published at 6:00 a.m.
A big risk
Suspending a child poses a great risk. First, the young person can take it as a reward, feeling good about doing what they want or showing themselves proud in front of others to better assert that they are “cool”. He would be right to feel a rejection or a form of abandonment, even if he may seem detached. What will he do and where will he go during these days? The school should fulfill its promise, that is to say, educate young people. I’m not talking about returning him to class, because the teacher didn’t throw him out for no reason; and it is probably best if it is cared for by people trained to receive it. The young person must learn from his mistakes and also learn how to correct them.
Ginette Lareault
And the other students?
Rather, I have the point of view of the “other” student. This fall, my son had his best week when a boy in his class received an internal suspension. He could finally be himself without risking reprisals from this child. In the article, you talk about “protecting other children”, precisely. Removing a student with severe behavioral problems from a class often has a 100% positive effect on ALL the others, not to mention the effect on the mental health and productivity of the teacher.
S. T.
Suspensions that do nothing
My son is in a special education class. He is in a small class with children with various diagnoses. Since the start of the school year, he has been suspended twice. And he stayed at home. All negative arguments cited in the article were named at the school. But nothing happened. He came home, without any consequences for my son. I was very clear with the management during a meeting recently: the parents are not there to make up for the school’s shortcomings and I would no longer take my son back. [à la maison] if ever a suspension happens. I would contact the student ombudsman at my school service center to let him know.
Lucie
A thirty-year-old without a diploma
I have always been of the opinion that suspension was not the right solution. My son is now 30 years old. As a teenager, he was very disruptive in class and the school sent him home. I was sometimes able to take him to work with me to prevent him from taking the suspension as a vacation, but since he was so disruptive, the suspensions increased, followed by changes of school, etc. To end up dropping out of school. To this day, he unfortunately still does not have a secondary 5 diploma. My conclusion: the suspension does not work.
-Claire
Rules to follow
I taught for 35 years, retired for 2 years. And I am in favor of this consequence. These students exhibit disruptive, often violent behavior that prevents others from learning or having fun in the schoolyard. Why penalize students who behave correctly by forcing them to endure these troublemakers, and by often being victims of these difficult students? Students must learn that at school we do not do what we want, when we want and how we want. There are rules, like in society and in the job market.
Lise Labelle
The system must not abandon them
My son, who is 30 years old, was a brilliant student, he got good grades. With ADHD, he was turbulent. He was suspended a few times. It’s easy and has little burden on management to get rid of the problem. I refused to take my son out of school, which he didn’t like anyway… “If you take him out of the class, give him a place in the principal’s office!” » They put in place solutions to interest him and keep him in class. Stakeholders, with the active and sustained participation of parents, must find solutions, and not simply get rid of problem children. My son is now an electrician, he is on his X, working, energetic and appreciated. The system must not abandon these children.
Catherine
An imperfect measure
I am an elementary school teacher in the Laurentians. While we know that suspension is far from ideal, we sometimes use it to protect the classroom climate and the feeling of safety of other students. We know that ideally, it would be more beneficial to do rehabilitation with these children, but resources are sorely lacking. We have a duty towards other students, who are subjected to the behavior of certain people all year round. At my school, we favor internal suspension, that is to say: the student is removed from his class, from his level for a few periods, but at least he remains at school.
Isabelle
Read the article “Suspension of students: an “ineffective” measure with serious consequences”
