Photo Credit- Mikhail Tereshchenko / Contributor
A new bill in California says that students in grades 4-8 cannot be suspended for willful defiance. What this basically means is that a student can essentially ignore a teacher with zero consequence. California argues that the prior practice had racial bias. Students could still be suspended or expelled for other acts, including threatening violence, bringing a weapon or drugs to school, or damaging school property.
“Teachers have to be treated as professionals. They have to be able to run their classrooms. I’m not saying they can hit their students, or be menacing. That’s not what I’m saying. The student is not in charge… When I go to a parent-teacher conference for my kid, I always start by telling the teacher that I love my kid, but you don’t have to love my kid. I’ll be the parent, you be the teacher. I don’t want the teacher to think I’m one of these crazy parents who thinks the teacher needs to love my kid and coddle them. Treat these teachers as professionals.”
