I've been disturbed to read in the local papers of students suspended from school for having drawn stick figures with guns, vague drawings that might be interpreted as an impressionists "aura of gun", etc.
Certainly violence in all its forms, physical, psychological, and its conceptual pre-cursors, should be addressed with seriousness and attention. This is one lesson of the Virginia Tech tragedy -- that there may be premonitions of violence peoples' lives -- in their writings, their drawings, their speech -- and that there will be opportunities to intervene to bring people back into balance and coping rather than spiraling out of control with tragic results.
This isn't news. The statistics of the incidence of mental illness are astounding, surprising to many, and ought to lead to a recognition that many troubled people are not evil but rather are ill, that they cannot be treated as rare exceptional outliers but rather need to be considered as part of the mainstream "care for the masses" provided through such institutions as public schools.
Violence is part of our culture. This isn't a good thing, but it is a fact. Presently my government is engaged in military action in Afgahnistan and Iraq about which there are varying political viewpoints but no one can disagree with this fact: there are a whole 'lotta guns involved. Popular culture is filled with such concepts as MOAB ("Mother of All Bombs", a particularly large yield conventional weapon), occasional consideration of the use of tactical nuclear devices against terrorists holed up in tunnels, Russia resuming strategic flights of nuclear bomb armed long rage bombers. It is a fact that the United States Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms. It is a fact that in the United States, in contrast with other countries, most police officers are armed. It is a fact that the army is paying an unprecendented twenty thousand dollar signing bonus to young people not much older than this eighth grader to do more than draw stick figures of guns -- to be that stick figure, dragging a gun into battle. To fire a gun and potentially kill other human beings or be killed by gunfire.
Do we suppose denying all of this is in the best interest of schoolchildren?
The most recent case leading me to write here is that of an eighth grader who drew a stick figure pointing a gun at another stick figure. Neither of these stick figures was labeled, but a neither pointing nor targeted stick figure was labeled with the name of a school administrator.
Disturbing? Yes, absolutely. Worthy of attention and intervention? Yes. Not my attention or your attention or media attention. Worthy of a guidance counselor's attention. What is leading to these drawings? Are there guns in this child's life being ignored? Is the implicit message that the school administrator would ignore one student visiting violence upon another? Is this child reacting to the violence of Iraq and Afghanistan? To the gun violence here in Phoenix? Did he see a gun and hasn't told anyone because he was afraid of what would happen next with that information?
What is the purpose of school? I see the purpose of school as that of educating, of assisting society's children to grow into thinking, moral, capable, responsible citizens. And so legitimate school activities are the diagnostic, curative, supportive activities that promote learning.
No doubt disciplinary measures must needs be in the array of tools available to schools. Sometimes suspension will be a necessary response to express the seriousness of an offense to the standards of the community, to protect students from credible threat of harm.
But suspension must be reserved for those circumstances that necessitate it. The continuity of presence in school is, unless our schools are totally without value, of importance to the quality of education experienced by a child. We go to ridiculous lengths to encourage "perfect attendance". There is a disconnect, then, to whimsically suspend students.
Reserve suspension for circumstances that actually warrant it, and with the extra school time thereby recovered, refer students needing intervention to capable professionals capable of diagnosing and remediating this sort of acting out.
I am concerned that the generation of students resulting from schools without a sense of proportion, with draconian or capricious discipline, will be at a disadvantage in providing appropriate leadership. The lesson learned here is "the response to drawing stick figures will be disproportionate, because the bullies in charge have no shame." When this or other students are in a position of power over others later in their lives, how will they have learned to behave? Will they apply power consistent with principles of minimal force, of understanding and support, of offering the benefit of the doubt and trust, of sound diagnostic and curative action? Or will they have learned to jerk the reigns of power to force those below them to comply without making an effort to understand the situation or what less severe force may prove helpful?
Cline said that school officials do not thing Joshua meant for any physical harm to come to anyone, but that the school had to discipline him for the safety of the other students and faculty.
- As reported in Aug 31 Arizona Republic
This is the sort of 1984-esque doublespeak that disappointingly too often comes from public officials. Say what? No physical harm was meant. Clearly none was actually imparted. ("Oh no! A stick figure! And you, Brutus?!") Yet school officials needed to discipline him "for the safety of other students".
I object, sir. Nods to Virginia Tech do not excuse disproportionate punition. "Safety" and "Security" have become buzzwords excusing official an institutional cowardice and failure of judgment. Instead of disciplining the student, apply efforts to discovering and addressing the underlying problem. Instead of useless random punishment that doesn't actually improve safety, do things that will improve safety, such as verifying emergency exits will actually work if needed, and getting to the bottom of where these gun images are coming from. If there's actually some guns around, that's an interesting problem worth addressing. Punishing the messenger to discourage future early warning of guns encroaching on schools won't help.
"It is our hope this young man learns from this and comes back to school."
I doubt that's the lesson the student will learn here. The lesson I learned here is to have less confidence in the sound judgment of the officials involved.
