Restorative Education Essay

Before a change in the school system can occur and be effective , everybody involves must be ready to embrace it . Much emphasis , both theoretical and empirical has been placed on school discipline reform from outside through different government policies and educational laws but little has been said on how the school (The implementer ) can be shaped and reform from within , by focusing on the school-based restorative approach . The above introduction shows how schools are getting it wrong on school discipline , policy and educational laws which later have an adverse effect on the society (family and the community ) who are the agent of child development and socialization . John Dewey said , " Education is the process of learning to be a useful

If restorative practice is being practice during my junior high school days , there could have been an opportunity for us to participate in a circle and the harm could have been repaired and the other four students who ended their educational career in the street could have been restored back to the classroom . Braithwaite , (2004 ) in his definition of restorative justice said ; is the " idea that because crime hurt , restorative justice should heal " . The question now is . How many schools are using restorative justice to heal the crime or offences committed by the student ? The answer is unknown . Restorative justice is not an alternative to zero tolerance , not a substitution for school discipline , neither a way to control student behaviour , nor a school package program . It is a philosophical approach that honours the worth of all regardless of they are and what they do

" Schools with high suspension rates are less safe , less equitable , and have lower academic outcomes (UCLA Civil Rights project ) " . Haven 't said all the above analogy and the conviction of restorative approach that came upon me , I can now give a straight answer that restorative practice in school can make a difference only if the governments are ready to support it and the schools are willing to accept the practice in full scale . I don 't see restorative justice as a course anymore but rather as a human in me because it has changed my thinking , addresses , decision and judgement about issues . It also strengthens how I relate to my family and people around me . The recently misunderstanding between me and my fiancée and how I handled the situation shows my deep understanding about the course by asking her some of the restorative framework questions and she said : " I never believed we could settle our difference between / in this short periods "