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How should a public school teacher discipline unruly students?

Since school attendance is mandatory, what is proper and moral way to handle discipline in class? I'm a Spanish teacher in public school, and I hate to threaten the unruly kids, but for the sake of students who are truly interested to learn Spanish, I have to resort to “violence” against students who are not interested in Spanish. They are in my class only because they are pressured by their counselors to attend my and other classes. How should I deal with them when they're disruptive?

Andrew , 24.04.2011, 08:25
Idea status: completed

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DianaHsieh, 27.04.2011, 21:00
The asker of this question e-mailed me the following clarification about the kinds of discipline he uses:

"I mean resorting to school procedures, of course: detentions for being tardy, not letting them use I-pods or MP3, talking on their cell phones during class, eat in class. In short I have to restrict some of their activities which normally are O.K., but since the kids are at school through the state law, and I am expected to enforce the school discipline, am I violating the students individual rights? This is a double question: being a government school teacher and participating in all the games the state educational establishment is imposing on populous, am I a co-participant? And since I am a "ruler" in my class, what is the proper role of "classroom management enforcer" from Objectivist perspective? Could you recommend sound school teacher-student relations if the students are assigned to class which some of them might not be exactly happy about? I am talking about 2-3 kids who cause all the problems when the majority of my students like to learn Spanish. But even these 2-3 are still human beings who are forced by the state to attend school. By punishment I mean no more than reprimanding them or keeping them after school for 20 minutes; but this is still my use of power to subdue them and force them to obey, which kills me as an objectivist. Am I being a jailer in this case?"

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