report on discipline problems in school essay

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• School Education /

Essay on Discipline: Sample Essays of 100, 200 & 400 Words

• Updated on  
• Apr 24, 2024

Discipline is something that assists in keeping a person in control. According to Merriam-Webster ‘Discipline is control gained by enforcing order or obedience ‘. It also refers to orderly conduct or pattern of behaviour. Discipline motivates a person to progress and eventually achieve success. Hence, it is important. There are two types of discipline- induced discipline and self-discipline. An essay on discipline is usually given as a task in a school. Hence, we have provided sample essays on discipline in 200 words, 300 words, and 400 words. Keep reading to know more about the same.

To improve your essay writing skills, here are the top 200+ English Essay Topics for school students.

Table of Contents

• 1 Essay on Discipline (100 Words)
• 2 Essay on Discipline (200 Words)
• 3 Essay on Discipline (400 Words)
• 4 Short Essay on Discipline
• 5 10 Lines on Discipline
• 6 Quotes on Discipline in Students Life

Essay on Discipline (100 Words)

Master the art of essay writing with our blog on How to Write an Essay in English .

Essay on Discipline (200 Words)

Also Read: Essay on Christmas: 100 – 150, 250, and 500 Words

Also Read: Essay on Politics in 500 Words

Essay on Discipline (400 Words)

Short essay on discipline, 10 lines on discipline.

Also Read: Essay on Neeraj Chopra in English for School Students

Quotes on Discipline in Students Life

While writing the essay on disciple a student can include popular quotes. It can make their essays stand out. Moreover, reading quotes on discipline can inspire a student to be disciplined in their life, 

• What lies in our power to do, lies in our power not to do.”– Aristotle
• Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”– Jim Rohn
• “There is no magic wand that can resolve our problems. The solution rests with our work and discipline. ”Jose Eduardo dos Santos
• “Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.”– Abraham Joshua Heschel
• “For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories. ” Plato

Also Read: Essay on Technology

An essay on discipline talks about the importance of discipline in a person’s life. A disciple is something that keeps each person in control. It motivates a person to achieve success in their life.

Discipline means being consistent, and following the set rules or order. AA disciplined person will follow the written and unwritten rules. There are several unwritten rules in schools. A disciplined student will follow the written and unwritten rules.

A school discipline essay contains the introduction, body, and conclusion, A student needs to include the importance of discipline while writing the essay.

Check out our Popular Essay Topics for Students

Discipline refers to an orderly conduct or pattern of behaviour. It involves following the rules in a school or an organization. Self-discipline is also important for success in life.

For more information on such informative essay topics, visit our essay writing page and follow Leverage Edu .

Blessy George

Blessy George works as a Content Marketing Associate at Leverage Edu. She has completed her M.A. in Political Science and has experience working as an Intern with CashKaro. She has written extensively on studying abroad, English Test preparation, visas, and online courses. During her free time, she likes to read and write poetry, and songs.

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Essay on School Discipline

Discipline is used in schools to keep students, teachers and other staff safe and to help meet the behavioral, social and emotional needs of the children as they grow and develop. Schools approach discipline in various ways and the severity of the discipline usually coincides with how severe the offense was.

Goal of Discipline

The main goal of discipline in schools is to teach children appropriate ways of behaving by giving consequences for making poor choices. For example, a student who doesn’t pay attention in class may have to spend recess time making up material that was missed. Discipline helps a student refrain from the behavior in the future.

The other goal of school discipline is to create a learning environment that benefits all students. By putting an end to behaviors that are not conducive to learning, teachers and administrators are able to create classrooms that are ideal for the educational needs of the children in the school. Types of School Discipline

Punitive techniques of discipline are the most common and involve giving an unpleasant consequence in response to a negative behavior. An example of this is when a child must move his desk to the front of the room after getting caught throwing pencils at other students. The aim is that next time the student considers throwing a pencil, he will remember the embarrassment of having to move to the front of the room while the entire class knows he is in trouble.

Zero tolerance is something that is used for more severe behaviors. Typically students are given warning or two before being given a consequence. However, the technique of zero tolerance means that no warnings are given and consequences are immediate. This type of discipline is used in cases of violence toward other students, drugs and other dangerous behaviors.

Some schools also use positive reinforcement, which is a technique that involves offering positive consequences for behavior that teachers and other staff want to see. For example, perhaps a student is given a sticker for turning in homework on time or is allowed to check out an extra library book for showing proper care of books. The goal here is to make proper behavior attractive enough that students want to make the right choices.

Effects of the Right Discipline Choice

The type of discipline a school chooses to use has an impact on the overall atmosphere and safety of the learning environment. In general, experts suggest a mixture of the types to create well rounded students who avoid undesired behaviors and instead gravitate toward the undesired ones. Discipline also creates structure and expectations for students, something that plenty of research says is ideal for teaching kids, both academically and socially, effectively preparing them for life beyond school.

Research Findings

According to the American Institutes for Research, students who are effectively disciplined, both positively and negatively, have a higher academic performance and are less likely to become part of the juvenile justice system as they get older. In addition, experts have found that discipline that occurs at school, rather than suspending students, further improves their performance in the classroom and helps keep them out of the legal system.

What Parents Can Do

School discipline is only truly effective if parents are willing to back up the decisions made by the school and help their child learn the proper way to behave at school. Parents should make a point of understanding the discipline used at their child’s school so they know what to expect and teach their child what to expect. Parents should understand that the rules at school may be different than the ones at home, but that kids are expected to follow the rules when they are in the classroom. Parents who partner with the school are the most likely to create students who behave appropriately at school and who don’t need much discipline to be successful.

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• Essay on Teaching

Discipline Problems In The Elementary School Essay Example

Type of paper: Essay

Topic: Teaching , Students , Discipline , Learning , Study , Classroom , Time , Education

Published: 02/02/2020

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It is very clear that discipline problems abound in the elementary schools. The problems often result in a disruption of learning activities in the classrooms making it impossible for learning to take place. Since it is difficult for meaningful learning to take place when there is a disruption, teachers then spend a lot of time on resolving such disturbances, thus leaving lesser time for actual learning to take place. Because of this fact, there is growing concern on ways of reducing the incidence of student disruptions in classrooms. This concern is not only among teachers but also expressed by the general public. /> It is true that it will be difficult for teachers to adopt some prescribed ways of handling disturbance. One is caused by the fact that such prescriptions are not a result of real classroom scenarios but laboratories. "Teachers have been hesitant about incorporating suggestions which have been given by psychologists in their classrooms. Many times these suggestions are a result of laboratory studies instead of true classroom situations" (Usova, p1). In many studies, it has been suggested to teachers to use a reward and ignore system. In this system, good conduct is rewarded by the teachers and disruptive behaviour is ignored. Ignoring a disruptive behaviour will be because the magnitude of the behaviour is not so significant. Misbehaviour of a high proportion will obviously elicit the proper sanction from the teacher. The kind of sanction as prescribed by various researchers, for effectiveness, will however be specific to a student. Not all student misbehaviour can be corrected by the reward and ignore system for instance. “The RAID system is a more effective approach with children who have poor self-concepts” (Usova, p1). The reward system particularly helps students who have a low value of themselves to build up their self-esteem. It is thus important that teachers study their classroom environment and in particular each student to know which method will be most suitable to correct a student that misbehaves in school. The competence of teachers also determines how the students act or react in class. When teachers are more organised, knowledgeable and well prepared for a class, it is easier for students to be attentive and participate actively in the class. If on the other hand the teacher is not competent, students when bored and uninterested may seek other forms of activities that will be more interesting to them. A most used way of correcting student misbehaviour is suspension from school. But many researchers have proposed an alternative to this method due to an obvious fact that it only makes the erring student worse in behaviour. I also believe that a corrective measure should not involve banishment from schools into the streets where they learn even worse behaviours. "Many educators who argue against suspension state that this method of discipline merely puts behaviour problems in the streets to get in more trouble and that suspension denied the student his right to an education." Better alternatives to pushing students out of school as a corrective measure are thus prescribed. A way is to deprive students some privileges and liberty in school until they are able to deal with their own problems themselves. It is true that praising good behaviour and ignoring bad behaviour will help correct students that are disruptive in classrooms. However, the means of achieving this will differ in various classrooms and with different teachers. Teachers also have a task of determining what method best suits a student or a classroom to achieve desirable results. Good preparedness for classes on the part of teachers has also been identified as one of the ways of preventing the incidence of class disturbance by students.

Usova, G.,M. (2001). Reducing Discipline Problems in the Elementary Schools: Approaches and Suggestions. US Office of Education, Washington, D.C, pp 419-422

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The Hechinger Report

Covering Innovation & Inequality in Education

How the pandemic has altered school discipline — perhaps forever

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One Thursday this fall, a middle schooler in Florida’s Brevard Public Schools received an in-school suspension. He had ripped off another student’s face mask and blown into a peer’s face. That same day, six other students across the district were written up for not wearing their masks correctly (including one who also faked using hand sanitizer), while an elementary school student was assigned three days of “private dining” for sharing food in violation of safety guidelines. Meanwhile, an e-learning student got in trouble for filming another student during class without permission.

In many ways, that Thursday was emblematic of a new age of discipline, with multiple students across the district getting written up for infractions that didn’t exist the school year before. Students removed their masks, chatted inappropriately in Zoom and failed to socially distance. In all, about 11 percent of discipline incidents outlined in detail from the start of the school year in late August to mid-September were in some way related to the coronavirus pandemic and the district’s new requirements for in-person and virtual instruction, according to records that Brevard Public Schools provided to The Hechinger Report/HuffPost.

Related: They didn’t turn in their work for remote school. Their parents were threatened with courts and fines

For teachers around the country, school discipline during the pandemic has been confounding. Few have received much guidance from administrators on how to handle discipline issues that arise in remote learning and in school buildings where education has been reshaped by new health and safety guidelines. In many districts, like Brevard, which this school year has conducted a mix of virtual and in-person instruction, the pandemic appears to have brought new challenges for teachers trying to keep themselves and their students safe.

“For me it feels unethical to discipline students who are online for circumstances that are beyond their control, like noise in their home environment or if they are late.” Rosamund Looney, teacher, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana

At the same time, with fewer children in school, in some districts the number of students being referred to the justice system by school administrators has fallen, prompting advocates and lawyers to wonder if schools will permanently reconsider their role in criminalizing student behavior.

But they also worry that if students don’t receive adequate counseling and other support to cope with emotional challenges exacerbated by the pandemic, there will be a surge in behavioral issues and punitive discipline when more children return to classrooms. “I predict there will be a train wreck if we don’t staff up and provide the services, especially mental health services … to all the kids who may need them,” said Dan Losen, director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA’s Civil Rights Project.

Related: Remote learners feel shortchanged in districts pressured to reopen in person

Remote instruction has opened up a new world when it comes to school discipline. The lines between students’ school and home lives have blurred, and teachers must make tricky calculations about when to intervene in situations witnessed over Zoom.

At the start of this school year, many lawyers and advocates worried about a possible flurry of expulsions and suspensions in remote learning. That doesn’t appear to have materialized in a significant way. Yet a few high-profile cases have drawn scrutiny to the ways that some school districts have meted out justice during the pandemic.

In Brevard Public Schools, about 11 percent of discipline incidents outlined in detail from the start of the school year in late August to mid-September were in some way related to the coronavirus pandemic and the district’s new requirements for in-person and virtual instruction.

In Colorado, two middle schoolers were suspended in early September after they both appeared to be playing with toy guns during online class. And in Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish district in September, fourth grader Ka’Mauri Harrison was suspended after a teacher saw a toy BB gun in his bedroom during virtual learning.

After an outcry over his six-day suspension, the state passed a law requiring school districts to write new discipline policies for virtual learning and make it easier for students who face expulsion for certain offenses to appeal. The parish, though, declined to scrub Ka’Mauri’s suspension from his record, although in December it did reduce the suspension to three days, which the boy had already served.

Rosamund Looney, a first grade teacher in the Jefferson Parish school district, said that remote learning has complicated the task of supporting and disciplining students. Looney has long taken what she calls a restorative approach to discipline, with the goal of encouraging positive behavior. In virtual instruction, she said that has meant being flexible when students don’t have their cameras on or log on late to class.

“For me it feels unethical to discipline students who are online for circumstances that are beyond their control, like noise in their home environment or if they are late,” she said.

One of her students was constantly showing up late during remote learning. Looney reminded the first grader that she had to be in virtual class by 7:45 a.m. — and then realized that her student didn’t know how to tell time. “I think we need to grant a lot of grace and accommodations,” said Looney.

In San Antonio, Texas, high school history teacher Luke Amphlett said he never insists on students keeping their cameras on during virtual instruction. As the coronavirus has spread and teachers and students alike have experienced trauma, more teachers have been granting students leniency in remote learning, said Amphlett. “I have seen a lot of educators shift their thinking on everything from grading, to having cameras on, to discipline, to the way they do outreach to families and how they conceptualize of their own job as teachers,” he said. 

Meanwhile, lawyers and advocates caution that inappropriate suspensions and other discipline may be going unnoticed. Chelsea Helena, a staff attorney focused on education issues with the Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, said that remote learning has created an opportunity for teachers to take “shortcuts” in terms of discipline, by muting students, turning off their cameras or prohibiting their entry to online classes. Such punitive actions do not have to be reported by the teacher and school, she noted.

“Exclusionary discipline just looks different now,” said Helena.

Related: A path out of trouble: How one state supports its teenagers while a neighboring state punishes them

When it comes to in-person education, educators are grappling with how to maintain and enforce rules intended to keep themselves and their students safe.

In Brevard, the majority of Covid-related discipline infractions outlined in the records provided to Hechinger/HuffPost involved students wearing masks incorrectly, which is treated like a dress code violation. In October, the school board extended its mandate that students and staff wear masks in school, despite pushback from some parents.

Russell Bruhn, chief strategic communications officer for Brevard Public Schools, said that teachers had not complained to the district about having to monitor for coronavirus-related violations. He added that the district had worked closely with the teachers’ union to listen to any concerns about keeping schools open safely. “Teacher, staff, student safety is the number one concern,” Bruhn said.

Teachers elsewhere say that ensuring compliance with mask-wearing has been a struggle. Tamara Cupit, who teaches ninth grade civics in Livingston Parish, Louisiana, said that just as getting adults to follow mask-wearing protocols has been difficult for the state’s governor, John Bel Edwards, so too has it been a challenge when it comes to kids in her school. “We are constantly having to tell students to pull up their mask, wear their mask, sanitize their hands,” she said.

But unless a child openly defies a teacher, students aren’t typically punished for failing to comply with mask-wearing, she said.

“Schools have a choice to make in whether they are going to participate in the school-to-prison pipeline.” Michael Waller, executive director of the nonprofit Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice

Still, fights over masks have flared in other contexts. Diane Smith Howard, managing attorney for juvenile and criminal justice with the National Disability Rights Network, said her group has encountered cases of schools excluding kids from in-person instruction if they have disabilities that prevent them from wearing masks. That’s an inappropriate, and potentially illegal, punishment, she said. Federal education and disability laws require that schools meet a number of conditions before removing children with disabilities from the same setting as their nondisabled peers, she said, and it doesn’t appear that schools are satisfying these requirements.   

“The law is quite clear,” said Smith Howard. “You can’t put a child on remote learning because they can’t wear a mask.” She added, “I see it as an excuse to remove kids they wanted to remove anyway.”

For some teachers, the pandemic has also made it harder to support students and encourage positive behavior. Looney, in Jefferson Parish, said that because of health guidelines and the challenges of simultaneously teaching in-person and virtual learners, she has to spend her days at the front of the classroom and can’t circulate as she once did. That restricts her ability to hold private, one-on-one conversations with students to try to redirect their behavior or praise them if they’re doing well. It’s also made “morning meetings,” in which students gather in a circle and practice social and emotional skills, more challenging, and there is no longer enough time in the day to prioritize these skills.

Such restorative practices often involve negotiation with students, said Looney, but “right now there are a lot of nonnegotiables in the classrooms.” Students must sit at their desks all day, without recess, wear masks and keep away from one another.

Brian Westlake, a high school social studies teacher in Georgia’s Gwinnett County, also said the pandemic has meant putting restorative discipline on pause.

His district tends to take a punitive approach to student discipline, he said. Eager to try a different strategy, Westlake helped set up a youth court at his school in fall 2019 that gave students a chance to take the lead in resolving minor infractions. Then the pandemic hit and, with so many new logistical challenges and demands on teachers’ time, the court had to be put on hold.

Westlake, who is teaching both in-person students and remote learners from his classroom, said that schools have long confused students’ emotional needs with behavioral issues. He hopes the coronavirus crisis will prompt greater awareness of the shortcomings of that approach. More parents are speaking out now about their children’s mental health problems, and administrators may start to recognize the urgent need for investment in counseling and other support. “It’s an opportunity to recognize that what we used to think of as discipline problems were often about needs going unaddressed,” he said.

Westlake said that while he’s not aware of any official updated disciplinary guidance in his district during the pandemic, his principal and the state superintendent have made statements about extending “grace” to students during this time.

The pandemic, meanwhile, has been accompanied by an accelerating movement to reduce harsh discipline and police presence in schools. Some states have taken steps in recent years to curtail police involvement in routine school discipline. The police killing of George Floyd this spring prompted a fresh wave of activism calling for the cancelation of school district contracts with police departments.

“I predict there will be a train wreck if we don’t staff up and provide the services, especially mental health services … to all the kids who may need them.” Dan Losen, director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA’s Civil Rights Project

Since the pandemic began, some school districts, particularly those that have gone fully virtual, have, unsurprisingly, recorded a significant decrease in police involvement and student arrests. Between mid-March and November 2018, for example, Florida’s Miami-Dade County Public Schools recorded 81 incidents that resulted in student arrests. Over the same period in 2019, the figure was 114. Then, last year, when the school district went remote, the number was just five, according to data provided to The Hechinger Report/HuffPost.

Losen of UCLA cautions against drawing conclusions from such data, however. “It’s a bit artificial to say referrals are down just like it is to say school suspensions are down,” he said. “If you aren’t conducting in-person education, you aren’t going to be kicking kids out.”

Still, advocates and lawyers are also optimistic that this moment could accelerate efforts to keep students from being sent to jail for school-related activities. Michael Waller, executive director of the nonprofit Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, said that schools tend to harshly punish kids for vaguely defined infractions such as “disruptive” or “defiant” behavior. In school, he said, kids are criminalized for activities that wouldn’t be considered criminal in another environment.

“Schools have a choice to make in whether they are going to participate in the school-to-prison pipeline,” he said.

Amphlett, the San Antonio teacher, said that, so far, educators are choosing to focus on supporting students’ emotional wellbeing, rather than on disciplining them. 

“The pandemic is really shaking people’s foundations,” he said. “I think if we can make sure every educator doesn’t quit, because we’re so abandoned with Covid, the result — hopefully — will be a really positive one.”

Rebecca Klein contributed reporting.

This story about school discipline was produced as part of an ongoing series on school discipline during the pandemic, reported by HuffPost and The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the Hechinger newsletter here .

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Essay on Discipline for Students and Children

500+ words essay on discipline.

Essay on Discipline – Discipline is something that keeps each person in control. It motivates a person to progress in life and achieve success . Everyone follow discipline in his/her life in a different form. Besides, everyone has his own prospect of discipline. Some people consider it a part of their life and some don’t. It is the guide that availability directs a person on the right path.

Importance and types of discipline

Without discipline, the life of a person will become dull and inactive. Also, a disciplined person can control and handle the situation of living in a sophisticated way than those who do not.

Moreover, if you have a plan and you want to implement it in your life then you need discipline. It makes things easy for you to handle and ultimately bring success to your life.

If talk about the types of discipline, then they are generally of two types. First one is induced discipline and the second one is self-discipline.

Induced discipline is something that others taught us or we learn by seeing others. While self- discipline comes from within and we learn it on our own self. Self-discipline requires a lot of motivation and support from others.

Above all, following your daily schedule without any mistake is also part of being disciplined.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

The Need for Discipline

Moreover, the meaning of discipline changes with the stages of life and priority. Not everyone can be disciplined because it requires a lot of hard work and dedication. Also, it needs a positive mind and a healthy body . One has to be strict to discipline so that she/he can successfully complete the road of success.

Advantages of Discipline

The disciple is a staircase by which the person achieve success. It helps a person to focus on his/her goals in life. Also, it does not let him/her derivate from the goal.

Besides, it brings perfection in a person life by training and educating the mind and body of the person to respond to the rules and regulation, which will help him to be an ideal citizen of the society.

If we talk about professional life then, the disciplined person gets more opportunities than the person who is undisciplined. Also, it adds an exceptional dimension to the personality of the individual. Besides, the person leaves a positive impact on the mind of people wherever she/he goes.

In conclusion, we can say that discipline is one of the key elements of anyone’s life. A person can only be successful if she/he strictly live a healthy and disciplined life. Besides, the discipline also helps us in a lot of ways and motivates the person around us to be disciplined. Above all, discipline helps a person to achieve the success that she/he wants in life.

{ “@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “FAQPage”, “mainEntity”: [{ “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “Define discipline in simple words?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “In simple language we can say that discipline is the organizing of human tasks and objectives so that can be successful. Besides, different fields and different people have a different meaning of discipline.”} }, { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What are the three types of discipline according to the books?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”:”These 3 discipline relates to the school. According to the three types of discipline are prevention, corrective, and supportive. These 3 discipline helps teachers to maintain the order and regulation in the class.”} }] }

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November 17, 2020.

Student misbehavior hasn’t vanished during distance learning, but schools are finding that imposing discipline in a virtual environment is a complicated and often murky process, and that current laws don’t neatly apply to online behavior.

The California Department of Education has not yet released suspension and expulsion data from the 2019-20 school year, but teachers and advocates interviewed by EdSource say school discipline, such as suspensions and expulsions, is still happening during distance learning, although less frequently than when students attended school in person.

Cheating on online tests, disrupting online class, and drug and weapon violations are among the more common offenses they’ve encountered. But how those students are punished has varied widely.

“School districts have been so focused on setting up distance learning — rightfully so — that proactive and transparent discipline policies have taken a back seat,” said Mandy Leigh, a San Francisco attorney who specializes in school discipline and special education law. “But it’s something school districts need to take seriously because there’s a lot at stake.”

Lack of data is perhaps the biggest problem, advocates said. Under state law, schools are required to track and report suspensions and expulsions and the subgroups of students who are disciplined — by ethnicity, gender or whether they’re in special education. But data about school discipline during the pandemic so far has been elusive.

Even when the state releases the data for 2019-20, it won’t distinguish between suspensions and expulsions before schools closed in March due to the pandemic, and discipline meted out when students were learning at home.

Complicating matters, discipline strategies look different when students aren’t in a brick-and-mortar classroom. Instead of teachers sending students to the principal’s office or to an in-school suspension room, they’re more likely to mute a student’s audio on Zoom or turn off a student’s video.

Or, they might send the student to a temporary Zoom “break-out room,” apart from the rest of the class.

Those actions aren’t likely to be recorded as formal suspensions, but in a way, they are still removals from the learning environment if they last for significant amounts of time, such as an hour or more, said Dan Losen, director of the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UCLA.

“This is something we are very concerned about,” he said. “Unfortunately, even if we had data from last year, which we don’t, there is not a category or clear definition for an out-of-school or in-school suspension from online instruction.”

Advocates also fear that if Black, Latino, Native American and special education students are being disproportionately disciplined compared to their peers, the trend will be masked by a lack of records of incidents. Without such information, it will be more difficult for schools to be held accountable for discrepancies in suspension and expulsion rates, said Linnea Nelson, an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California who specializes in education equity issues.

Even before the pandemic, those subgroups of students, particularly Black students, faced more suspensions and expulsions than their white peers, according to data collected by the California Department of Education. But the gap has likely widened because student misbehavior is often the result of trauma or a crisis at home, and certain groups, such as Black and Latino families, have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and economic downturn, Nelson said. A survey released in September by the Commonwealth Fund found that Black and Latino adults were far more likely than whites to have experienced economic hardship and mental health challenges related to the pandemic.

“Discipline data is one of the ways we get a snapshot of how civil rights issues are playing out in schools,” Nelson said. “But if incidents aren’t being properly recorded, then we have no objective way to measure impacts on students. … We do know that the pandemic is exacerbating disparities throughout society, including school discipline.”

Student misbehavior itself has also changed with the shift to distance learning. The ACLU and other groups are monitoring several high-profile school discipline cases, in California and elsewhere, in which teachers spotted BB guns or toy guns in students’ homes and took disciplinary action — in some cases calling the police because they thought the guns were real.

In the East Bay Area, a school district sent police to a student’s home after a school staff member allegedly saw a gun on screen during a Zoom session. The gun was an unloaded toy BB gun, and the family filed a legal challenge over the district’s decision to discipline the student, according to Damien Troutman, a San Francisco attorney who specializes in school discipline who is working on the case. In Louisiana , a fourth-grader was suspended in September when his teacher saw a BB gun in his bedroom. In Colorado , school officials called the police on a seventh-grader who had his hand on a “Zombie Hunter” toy gun. A similar incident happened to a sixth-grader in New Jersey .

Parents in those cases believed the students had a right to have toy guns in their homes. But if online class was in session, the rules might not be so clear, said Leigh, the San Francisco special education law attorney.

In California, possessing weapons at school is a violation of the state education code and grounds for suspension or expulsion. The law applies not just to school campuses, but any off-campus school activity, such as field trips or club events, and likely includes a student’s home during distance learning, Leigh said. Because most parents probably don’t realize this, schools need to do a better job communicating the rules and behavioral expectations during distance learning, she said.

Beyond weapons possession, a host of other offenses aren’t spelled out in the education code as grounds for suspension or expulsion, but might fall under an individual school’s discipline policy, such as cyberbullying —when a student harasses another student online, sometimes publicly on social media — cheating, harassment and dress code violations. Troutman said some students have been disciplined for political harassment — waving Trump flags during a Zoom session with the intention of intimidating other students, for example.

In addition, high school teachers say sometimes students turn off their cameras and shop, watch movies, scroll through social media or play video games during class, all of which may be violations of school policy. The infractions are not usually grounds for suspension, but could be subject to other forms of classroom discipline.

But excluding a student from class, even by sending them to a Zoom break-out room, almost never improves a student’s behavior, said Wendy Tucker, senior director of policy at the National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools. Tucker recently published a white paper on how schools can improve their discipline protocols for students with disabilities during school closures.

Talks with the family, referrals to a counselor or social worker and creating long-term plans to address a student’s misbehavior are more effective ways for schools to handle school discipline, she said. In general, addressing the underlying reasons for the misbehavior nets better results than suspending or expelling a student, she said.

“If you think about the loss of learning that’s happening anyway due to Covid, seeing students removed from class is extra concerning,” Tucker said. “I get it — If I’m a teacher and I have 26 third-graders, it’s easier to stick them in a breakout room than reach out to the family. I know that we’re asking a lot of teachers already. But for so many kids, especially those who’ve experienced trauma, education is so important right now. It really is a lifeline.”

For the past several years, schools have been under pressure to improve the ways they respond to students who misbehave. Effective this school year, the state has banned suspensions for “willful defiance” — defying school staff or disrupting school activities — in grades K-8. For the previous several years, this category of suspensions had been prohibited only in kindergarten through third grade.

San Bernardino City Unified is among the districts in California that had relatively high rates of suspensions before the ban on willful defiance suspensions, but has since seen rates gradually decline over the past seven years. Since 2011-12, the district has decreased its overall suspension rate from 7.6% to 5.5%, in part by adopting restorative justice, conflict resolution and anti-bullying programs that have greatly improved campus climates — virtual and otherwise, district officials said.

The anti-bullying program has been especially useful in curbing cyberbullying, which has been increasing in many schools during the pandemic because students are spending more time online, said Marlene Bicondova, the district’s director of positive youth development. An example of cyberbullying would be a student maliciously singling out another student and urging classmates to shun him or her. Most schools have policies against cyberbullying, whether it happens during school hours or outside of school.

In San Bernardino’s anti-bullying program, adopted three years ago and now happening on Zoom, school counselors enlist students’ help in publicly supporting students who’ve been bullied, without the bully being singled out. That sort of peer pressure has been more effective in changing a bully’s behavior than suspension or other traditional discipline practices, she said.

Of the 95 bullying cases school staff handled over the past three years, nearly all were resolved successfully through this program, even cases that occurred after campuses closed and the program shifted online, she said.

“We learned that we can’t just keep suspending kids. When we suspend them, they just come back angrier,” she said. “No strategy is going to solve all kids’ bullying issues, but this definitely helps. We’ve seen huge improvements and know it works. … Now we know it works in distance learning, too.”

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chase freeman 3 years ago 3 years ago

Jim 3 years ago 3 years ago.

“resolved successfully” Means what?

Stephanie 3 years ago 3 years ago

I think discipline problems have almost disappeared. Young students have a parent or older sibling sitting close by monitoring behavior and teachers. The students and parents that want their children to be educated are now focused on how to make that happen. The ones that don't care are the students that don't come to school regularly or cannot find any of the supplies that have been sent home. This is an educational process … Read More

I think discipline problems have almost disappeared. Young students have a parent or older sibling sitting close by monitoring behavior and teachers. The students and parents that want their children to be educated are now focused on how to make that happen. The ones that don’t care are the students that don’t come to school regularly or cannot find any of the supplies that have been sent home.

This is an educational process for parents as well as students. Many parents are benefiting from the increased use of technology and the many hours teachers spend not only teaching the children but the parents. What a wonderful opportunity for Californians to get smarter! The days of sending the kids to “brick and mortar” just to get them out of the parents’ hair is done. Now I realize that kids need to get away from toxic parents but sending them to school where teachers have to deal with all the problems isn’t fair either – we are not babysitters.

I think making parents accountable has come shinning through this pandemic. The parents that love their children and want to see them succeed are making every effort to work with teachers. There has never been a better time to be a community – without brick and mortar overhead. Kids today need to be technologically savvy! So do their parents. I think the students have been better behaved since they know their parents are watching over them – at least the young ones!

Seth 3 years ago 3 years ago

Unfortunately, not everyone has the privilege of spending all day schooling all their children. Specifically, the article refers to kids that experience trauma as a result of financial downturn to the family as a result of the pandemic. To imply that the problem is lack of effort or caring from the parents is irresponsible. Schools play a part in the daily lives of most children that goes beyond providing academic material. Misbehavior is definitely not gone, I … Read More

Unfortunately, not everyone has the privilege of spending all day schooling all their children. Specifically, the article refers to kids that experience trauma as a result of financial downturn to the family as a result of the pandemic. To imply that the problem is lack of effort or caring from the parents is irresponsible. Schools play a part in the daily lives of most children that goes beyond providing academic material. Misbehavior is definitely not gone, I would say it is even more challenging for teachers now as they can’t track and maintain a child’s focus like they could in a classroom. Parents will do their best given their personal situation, the responsibility also rests on the schools and the school staff to make sure kids are not left behind

Paul Muench 3 years ago 3 years ago

Interesting! The fact that online classes can be disrupted sounds like a technology problem.

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Essay on Discipline in School

Students are often asked to write an essay on Discipline in School in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Discipline in School

Importance of discipline.

Discipline in school is crucial. It’s like a tool that guides us to follow rules, behave well, and respect others. Without discipline, a school would be a place of chaos.

Role of Discipline

Discipline helps in maintaining order. It helps students focus on their studies, respect their teachers, and cooperate with their classmates. It’s the key to achieving academic success.

Discipline and Character

Discipline also helps in building character. It teaches us patience, respect, and responsibility. It helps us become better individuals and prepares us for future challenges.

In conclusion, discipline is essential in school. It helps maintain order, promotes learning, and shapes our character.

250 Words Essay on Discipline in School

Introduction.

Discipline is a cardinal virtue that forms the bedrock of any successful institution, notably schools. It’s not merely about strict adherence to rules but rather a self-imposed code of conduct that fosters a conducive environment for learning and character development.

The Essence of Discipline

Discipline transcends the classroom environment; it is a life skill that shapes one’s character and molds their future. It instills a sense of responsibility and respect for authority, time, and societal norms. It forms the basis for self-control, enabling students to resist distractions, thereby facilitating focus and productivity.

Discipline and Academic Excellence

There is an inextricable link between discipline and academic excellence. It promotes consistency and persistence, essential qualities for academic success. A disciplined approach to studies ensures regularity in attendance, timely completion of assignments, and effective time management. This systematic approach leads to better understanding and retention of knowledge.

Discipline and Character Development

Schools are not just academic factories; they are character-building platforms. Discipline plays a crucial role in this aspect. It helps inculcate values such as honesty, respect, and empathy. It fosters a sense of social responsibility, preparing students to be conscientious citizens.

In conclusion, discipline is an indispensable part of school life. It is the driving force behind academic success and character development. It helps in shaping responsible, respectful, and resourceful individuals who can contribute positively to society. Hence, fostering discipline within the school environment should be a priority for every educational institution.

500 Words Essay on Discipline in School

Discipline is the cornerstone of any successful institution, and schools are no exception. It is a set of rules and regulations that guide behavior, ensuring order and preventing chaos. It is a critical element in molding a student’s personality, shaping their character, and preparing them for future challenges.

The Importance of Discipline in Schools

Discipline in schools is not merely about obedience or adherence to rules; it’s about fostering a culture of respect, responsibility, and resilience. It is a tool that facilitates the educational process by creating an environment conducive to learning. It aids in the development of self-control, which is an essential skill for navigating life’s challenges and succeeding in personal and professional spheres.

Discipline also plays a pivotal role in instilling moral values, such as honesty, integrity, and respect for others. It fosters a sense of community, teaching students the importance of teamwork, cooperation, and mutual respect. These values are not only crucial for their academic journey but also for their lives beyond the school gates.

The Role of Teachers and Administrators

Teachers and administrators play a significant role in maintaining discipline in schools. They are the custodians of the school’s ethos and are responsible for setting the standards of behavior. They must lead by example, demonstrating respect, fairness, and consistency. Their role involves creating a positive learning environment, establishing clear expectations, and enforcing rules and consequences.

However, discipline in schools should not equate to a culture of fear or authoritarianism. Instead, it should promote a supportive atmosphere where students feel safe, respected, and motivated to learn. Teachers and administrators should use discipline as a means of teaching students about the consequences of their actions, helping them understand the importance of making responsible choices.

The Role of Students

Students, too, have a significant role to play in maintaining discipline. They must understand the importance of discipline in their lives and the consequences of indiscipline. They should take ownership of their behavior, learn to respect rules, and understand their importance in maintaining a harmonious learning environment.

Discipline should not be seen as a burden or restriction but as a pathway to success. It is a skill that enables students to manage their time effectively, focus on their goals, and develop resilience in the face of adversity.

In conclusion, discipline in schools is not just about rules and regulations; it’s about creating a culture that promotes learning, respect, and personal growth. It is a collective responsibility, requiring the participation of teachers, administrators, and students. With the right approach, discipline can be a powerful tool that prepares students for the challenges of the future, helping them become responsible, respectful, and resilient individuals.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Self Discipline
• Essay on Value of Discipline
• Essay on Cyber Crime

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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School Discipline and Safety

School Discipline

Schools with disciplinary issues can experience problems with bullying, classroom disturbance, and truancy. The sense of security that comes from having a stable school environment with few behavioral problems and little or no concern about student or teacher safety is conducive to student learning. Research shows that schools where rules are clear and enforced fairly tend to have atmospheres of greater discipline and safety. 70,71 In past PIRLS assessments, students in schools with hardly any discipline problems had higher reading achievement than students in schools with disciplinary problems. PIRLS has gathered data on school discipline since 2001, and now includes the School Discipline scale developed in 2011. The scale summarizes principals’ reports on school discipline based on the degree to which schools have issues with student conduct ranging from intimidation or verbal abuse among students to student cheating.

Safe and Orderly School

School effectiveness research analyzing PIRLS/TIMSS 2011 data has shown that school safety is an important prerequisite for student achievement in many countries. 72 Respect for individual students and teachers, a safe and orderly environment, and constructive interactions among administrators, teachers, parents, and students all contribute to a positive school climate and are associated with higher student achievement. 73,74,75 Together the School Discipline scale reported by principals and the Safe and Orderly School scale reported by teachers gather information on safe schools. Teachers are asked to indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree with various statements on school safety, including whether they feel safe at the school and if they believe school rules are enforced in a fair and consistent manner.

Bullying is repeated aggressive behavior that is intended to intimidate or harm the victim and takes a variety of forms, both mental and physical. Bullying causes distress to victims, leads to low self-esteem, and makes victims feel like they do not belong. 76,77,78 Previous PIRLS reports have shown that bullied students tend to have lower reading achievement, aligning with findings of other research. 79,80,81

PIRLS began collecting data on student bullying in 2001. It developed the student bullyingscale in 2011, based on students’ reports of how often they experience various bullying behavior ranging from being made fun of to being physically hurt. With the prevalence of the internet and cyberbullying, the Student Bullying scale was expanded in 2016, and again for 2021. Cyberbullying behaviors include being sent nasty or hurtful messages or having nasty or hurtful information shared online. Like other forms of bullying, cyberbullying is associated with low self-esteem, distress, and poor achievement. 82,83

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What’s It Like To Be a Teacher in America Today?

3. problems students are facing at public k-12 schools, table of contents.

• Problems students are facing
• A look inside the classroom
• How teachers are experiencing their jobs
• How teachers view the education system
• Satisfaction with specific aspects of the job
• Do teachers feel trusted to do their job well?
• Likelihood that teachers will change jobs
• Would teachers recommend teaching as a profession?
• Reasons it’s so hard to get everything done during the workday
• Staffing issues
• Balancing work and personal life
• How teachers experience their jobs
• Lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
• Major problems at school
• Discipline practices
• Policies around cellphone use
• Verbal abuse and physical violence from students
• Addressing behavioral and mental health challenges
• Teachers’ interactions with parents
• K-12 education and political parties
• Acknowledgments
• Methodology

We asked teachers about how students are doing at their school. Overall, many teachers hold negative views about students’ academic performance and behavior.

• 48% say the academic performance of most students at their school is fair or poor; a third say it’s good and only 17% say it’s excellent or very good.
• 49% say students’ behavior at their school is fair or poor; 35% say it’s good and 13% rate it as excellent or very good.

Teachers in elementary, middle and high schools give similar answers when asked about students’ academic performance. But when it comes to students’ behavior, elementary and middle school teachers are more likely than high school teachers to say it’s fair or poor (51% and 54%, respectively, vs. 43%).

Teachers from high-poverty schools are more likely than those in medium- and low-poverty schools to say the academic performance and behavior of most students at their school are fair or poor.

The differences between high- and low-poverty schools are particularly striking. Most teachers from high-poverty schools say the academic performance (73%) and behavior (64%) of most students at their school are fair or poor. Much smaller shares of teachers from low-poverty schools say the same (27% for academic performance and 37% for behavior).

In turn, teachers from low-poverty schools are far more likely than those from high-poverty schools to say the academic performance and behavior of most students at their school are excellent or very good.

Among those who have been teaching for at least a year, about eight-in-ten teachers say the lasting impact of the pandemic on students’ behavior, academic performance and emotional well-being has been very or somewhat negative. This includes about a third or more saying that the lasting impact has been very negative in each area.

Shares ranging from 11% to 15% of teachers say the pandemic has had no lasting impact on these aspects of students’ lives, or that the impact has been neither positive nor negative. Only about 5% say that the pandemic has had a positive lasting impact on these things.

A smaller majority of teachers (55%) say the pandemic has had a negative impact on the way parents interact with teachers, with 18% saying its lasting impact has been very negative.

These results are mostly consistent across teachers of different grade levels and school poverty levels.

When we asked teachers about a range of problems that may affect students who attend their school, the following issues top the list:

• Poverty (53% say this is a major problem at their school)
• Chronic absenteeism – that is, students missing a substantial number of school days (49%)
• Anxiety and depression (48%)

One-in-five say bullying is a major problem among students at their school. Smaller shares of teachers point to drug use (14%), school fights (12%), alcohol use (4%) and gangs (3%).

Differences by school level

Similar shares of teachers across grade levels say poverty is a major problem at their school, but other problems are more common in middle or high schools:

• 61% of high school teachers say chronic absenteeism is a major problem at their school, compared with 43% of elementary school teachers and 46% of middle school teachers.
• 69% of high school teachers and 57% of middle school teachers say anxiety and depression are a major problem, compared with 29% of elementary school teachers.
• 34% of middle school teachers say bullying is a major problem, compared with 13% of elementary school teachers and 21% of high school teachers.

Not surprisingly, drug use, school fights, alcohol use and gangs are more likely to be viewed as major problems by secondary school teachers than by those teaching in elementary schools.

Differences by poverty level

Teachers’ views on problems students face at their school also vary by school poverty level.

Majorities of teachers in high- and medium-poverty schools say chronic absenteeism is a major problem where they teach (66% and 58%, respectively). A much smaller share of teachers in low-poverty schools say this (34%).

Bullying, school fights and gangs are viewed as major problems by larger shares of teachers in high-poverty schools than in medium- and low-poverty schools.

When it comes to anxiety and depression, a slightly larger share of teachers in low-poverty schools (51%) than in high-poverty schools (44%) say these are a major problem among students where they teach.  

About two-thirds of teachers (66%) say that the current discipline practices at their school are very or somewhat mild – including 27% who say they’re very mild. Only 2% say the discipline practices at their school are very or somewhat harsh, while 31% say they are neither harsh nor mild.

We also asked teachers about the amount of influence different groups have when it comes to determining discipline practices at their school.

• 67% say teachers themselves don’t have enough influence. Very few (2%) say teachers have too much influence, and 29% say their influence is about right.

• 31% of teachers say school administrators don’t have enough influence, 22% say they have too much, and 45% say their influence is about right.
• On balance, teachers are more likely to say parents, their state government and the local school board have too much influence rather than not enough influence in determining discipline practices at their school. Still, substantial shares say these groups have about the right amount of influence.

Teachers from low- and medium-poverty schools (46% each) are more likely than those in high-poverty schools (36%) to say parents have too much influence over discipline practices.

In turn, teachers from high-poverty schools (34%) are more likely than those from low- and medium-poverty schools (17% and 18%, respectively) to say that parents don’t have enough influence.

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