How should schools deal with students considered to be constant trouble makers?

Answer 1

It depends on why they are troublemakers. Is it a discipline problem, is there a problem with their home life, or do they have special needs? If it is discipline, they need stricter guidance. If there are home problems, they need counseling. If they have special needs, they should have them addressed.

Answer 2

I've taught school for 15 years and have seen my share of these so called "troublemakers" from K through 6th grade. At least in the areas where I live, we can no longer afford a school counselor or any other professional for these kids to talk to. The only time they get an adult to talk to them is when they are in trouble! I think we need to have funds for counselors, and we need to have caring teachers that can look beyond the behavior to the root. Is something going on at home? Are they having to act tough because of something happening on the playground? Are they frustrated in school? There are so many reasons - and often parents are seeing the exact same behavior at home and are just as stumped as we are. I do believe that taking time alone to talk with the child can help. I also feel that working with the school staff and parents to find some kind of solution is also good. I think having on-site school counselors would be wonderful! I also believe that if the student is disrupting the learning of others, they should be seated away from the rest of the class or in another room because their behavior is unacceptable. I sometimes make students "islands' in my room so they don't get the attention. I also have a partner teacher for behavior to send them to. We've discovered that primary to intermediate teams work best. We also have a committee that discusses ideas and what to do with students that are having problems. Sometimes it is school-related because of a learning disability that needs to be addressed. Maybe it is a health issue. I once had a kindergartner who was suspended 5 different times and was finally put on a behavior plan. We had a meeting with school staff and the parent and then this student started seeing a counselor (outside of school, of course, since we don't have any!) and a behavior plan was also instituted at home. It was also discovered that this child had ADHD. Even without medication, through working with the counselor and the parent, the behavior improved tremendously! The student was very excited to take the behavior charts from school to the counselor each week. I really believe that the parents, the school and most especially the teacher, as well as select members of the community, need to work together to find out how to deal with each child individually. I think we need to work together to have these children be productive citizens and not isolate them to learn new behaviors from other troublemakers. After all, it is not only the kids who behave in class that will be part of the future - they all will.

Answer 3

Thats a hard question because the parents of those students would think it unfair to ban their troubled child from learning and interacting with others. In my opinion it depends on the age of the child. If it is pre-k then they should defenitly take more time and have more patients because often times then it's something they are seeing in their home or seeing on unmonitored television and it could corrected, even elementary school. Funny enough, though if you meet the parents you normally can see where it comes from.

However, if they are Middle School age, or High School they need to leave the school because at that age when kids are trying to learn and gear towards college they should'nt be derailed by a bully or trouble maker, I think the parents should have to home school them so they can see just how hard it is to work with those children because its often a learning disability that is frustration expressed as anger. I guess what im saying is it takes some digging but the school counselor should be the first step and after that steps have to be taken to protect the children that are in school functioning well because we all have seen what doing nothing can do (ie. the school shootings).

Answer 4

As a prep school graduate before college, as well as having taught as a substitute, I think I know how to ameliorate, if not solve, this issue. A certain percentage of individuals are born with varying degrees of what is called mental illness. Some are sociopaths. However, most difficult students, I believe, are struggling to cope. There may be social, domestic, or health issues to deal with.
Smaller class size insures that each student gets the required attention and sense of inclusion. I was a poor student in grammar school, but thrived in the prep where the largest class included a mere 15 people plus the instructor.
Qualified counselors may help also. And nothing compares to teachers who love both learning and their students!

Answer 5

The first answer always seems to be to remove them from the environment. This is usually accomplished through suspension and expulsion, or send them to counseling while keeping them in the school. This sometimes helps the symptoms, but doesn't fix the problem.

The child needs to learn accountability for their actions. The punishment should not include "free time" from school and falling behind their education. They should be taught that the consequences of their actions have long reaching implications.

Community service and counseling, along with education in an alternative and controlled environment will help them to control their actions and outlook.

The biggest obstacle, though, is funding. Separate, short term systems for troublemakers can be expensive, but if the schools boards put less emphasis on high cost extracurricular activies, there would be adequate funding for the at-risk student's who desparately need the care and attention.

Answer 6

I feel that the root cause of children who are classified as troublemakers lies in two areas. A lack of parental involvement and inadequate nutrition. Most children nowadays have two parents that work and thus are lacking a parental influence that they can turn to with their problems, this leaves them seeking out their help from friends or others that do not necessarily have their best interests at heart. SO first, I would require a more active involvement from parents in the resolution process. The other key problem is that our children are being poisoned and malnourished by a food industry that is allowed by the FDA to place harmful and addicting chemicals into our food supply that promote lethargy, decreased brain function, and obesity. Therefore, The school systems must be forced to stop utilizing processed, corporate based food companies and switch to organic suppliers of healthy foods.

Answer 7

Schools need to send the trouble makers to counsilling. The counscelor needs to try to find out what the root problem is, by talking and listening to the individual. Then try to find what interests the individual, and try to form a constructive turnaround pattern that the individual is willing to at least try. Many times we hear what others say, then we tend to choose what we think is best instead of seeing what the individual's response would be in allowing them to help decide what may be an alternative to their current behavior problem.

Answer 8

The first thing that schools need to do is to make sure that they involve the parents. The school also needs to make sure that the child and parents understand what the child is doing to be disruptive and why. Last the school needs to make sure that there is not just punishment involved but some sort of follow up program to make sure the child learns from their mistakes. If this does not work the school needs to look at alternative placements.

Answer 9

Remove all students from government schools. When parents are free to choose the school to which they send their children, discipline will be a contractual matter between the parents and the school. Of course, assault-and-battery laws and the like would still apply, the wishes of the parents or the school to the contrary not withstanding.

Answer 10

Get to know the individual child. No child is born mean but life deals us all various issues in life stemming from violence in the home, abuse by parents or other family members, parents who work and spend little time with kids, etc.. Children really want love, encouragement, support and the presence of parents or at least one. Most households such as my own are headed by single mothers who are have learned the hard way how important it is to the child my presence at a school play or award ceremony. Kids are Gods gift to us and our future; therefore, we must treat them as such. Any child responses positively to love and a word of encouragement.

Answer 11

The first isn't truly an answer, but IS true- the problem isn't in school- it's in the home, parents that allow the child to become out of control.
What they need to do is suspend the child and hold him back a year (thus forcing the parents to handle the child). If it continues they should expell him, forcing him to a low worklife- instead of having others suffer it because of his lack of discipline.