Annie
Diamond Member
- Nov 22, 2003
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I don't think this aspect of the 1st Amendment has made schools less safe. However, I think it is possible that the threat of lawsuits generally (from parents unhappy with their child's grade, over every disciplinary action, etc.) has had an effect on the ability of schools to provide discipline. There I would probably agree with you.
While I don't think the intent of Tinker and some other cases were to undermine school authority, they did, at the same time that parenting was becoming less strong, (many causes for sure, some: divorce rates; more permissive sexual mores; more single, unmarried parents; baby boomers that had not been disciplined themselves.) Then add on the mandates for schools from NCLB to teaching sex ed, diversity, abuse classes-of which there are many, etc.
Less time to teach, more disruptions to the normal day, more challenges by students and parents to authority.
People wonder why so many teachers leave. It's easy to figure out and it's not all about the money, they want to teach but can't.