Behavior Problems in Schools Due to Lack of Discipline

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Parents and students seldom dispute the disciplinary actions of school authorities up until the late 1960s. Schools are a place considered to provide instruction, instill good value, and inspire the morals of our nation (Arum 60). The courts decided that it was important to give teachers and school administrators’ authority over student behavior. The authority initiated from the English common law concept of in loco parentis which means in place of the parent. This law allowed parents to give school personnel a given amount of control over their children when they place their children in school (Yell 8). This gave administrators and teachers the ability to guide, correct, and discipline in an orderly and effective learning environment while maintaining practical control of students as they do their job teaching. Loco parentis implies that teachers and administrators have a responsibility to see that school order is maintained by requiring students to obey reasonable rules and commands, ensure others rights are respected, and conduct themselves in a safe and orderly manner while at school (Yell 8). Students are supposed to know what behaviors are acceptable or forbidden. They need to be accountable if they refuse to comply with reasonable school rules by behaving in prohibited ways. Holding the students accountable, means the violators will be subject to disciplinary measures or consequences.

As students civil rights revolution evolved, and the increase of these rights emerged, parents and students, began to question, undermine, and challenge school disciplinary practices in court with the help of lawyers in the public’s interest. The timeframe for drastic school discipline changes began around 1969. The Supreme Court ruled how...

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