Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein, along with Benjamin Tucker, have sent the police - some say as many as 150 - to our city's public schools in order to control the violence. Underneath this policy is the unspoken hypothesis that the children are at fault; the children are out of control; the children need to be disciplined and punished for "disruptive" behavior.
What would happen if we saw children as people who need role models and guidance, rather than punishment? What would happen if we looked at each child in a public school and told them that they were a valued member of the community, and we trusted them to work diligently to show us that they are the terrific human beings that we know they are?
We believe that this philosophy works...but only if the person saying it is respected. A Principal who has just hit a child cannot say that he/she respects a child, because the statement is not credible. Perhaps if teachers, Principals and Supervisors are given anger management and sensitivity training, along with a code of ethics strictly enforced by school administrators, then we will see a decline in violent and/or disruptive behavior in our schools, not before. Children will not stop hurting other children, cheating, or being disruptive unless the people they spend time with stop as well. It really does not matter how many policemen and women are sent into our schools if the root of the errant behavior is not addressed first.