The Pros And Cons Of Suspension

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Are schools actually seeing a difference in students’ behavior by suspending? Or are schools just trying to get rid of the bad kids? Wouldn’t students rather get suspended and stay home than go to school? Typically, suspensions are given as a punishment for disruptive behavior and they can range from a period of a few hours to a few days depending on the severity of the behavior. Suspensions became common from 1960-70 because of fighting due to desegregation and continue to be enforced today. Although suspension is a familiar punishment, schools shouldn’t result to suspending because it is proven to be ineffective, the number of dropouts have reduced without suspensions, and students react better when they have a chance to explain themselves. …show more content…

Many schools are finding that suspensions are just not working. Just because suspensions are cheap and a well known punishment doesn’t mean they improve students’ behavior. A 2011 study in Texas proved that if a student is suspended just once in middle school or high school they are four times as likely to cause a disciplinary action in their academic career. By reducing suspensions at Boston Public Schools they are seeing an improvement in test scores. The students who have poor grades and/or live in poverty are often the ones to get suspended and may not get the support they need at home, making the suspension unsuccessful. While some may argue that students with bad behavior should not be allowed in class, frequent suspensions do not help the underlying problems and may make them worse. So it stands to reason that a different approach than suspensions may be more

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