Stop letting disruptive students steal everyone else’s education

I agree that students aren’t learning when they are suspended (“SC teachers face threats and physical harm in the classroom”). Or at least they’re not learning what we need them to learn.

But while that one child is out of the classroom, no longer disrupting the class, the remaining students have the opportunity to learn. One or two disruptive students can slow a teacher down so much that the rest of the students’ education is being stolen from them.

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We only have 180 days to get these kids past the summer slide and ready for the next grade. Every minute counts. Why make the kids who cooperate and want to succeed pay for the miscreants’ behavior with their futures? Don’t they have rights, too? Shouldn’t we look out for the majority?

Remove the repeat offenders from the classroom, and watch our test scores soar. If you don’t want to suspend the misbehavers, at least remove them from the regular classroom.

And don’t wait until they’re in middle school to pull them out.

The State publishes a cross section of the letters we receive from South Carolinians in order to provide a forum for our community and also to allow our community to get a good look at itself, for good or bad. The letters represent the views of the letter writers, not necessarily of The State.

This story was originally published May 22, 2018 at 8:47 AM with the headline "Stop letting disruptive students steal everyone else’s education."