Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by the 2016 Spalding County SPLOST via the Flint River Regional Library System.
About Griffin daily news. (Griffin, Ga.) 1924-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 1977)
— Griffin Daily News Thursday, Septembers, 1977 Page 16 Problems Discipline is one of greatest difficulties in today’s public schools Ask a parent, teacher or educational administrator to list the major problems of today’s public school systems and discipline is sure to be high on the list. According to Joe Edwards, deputy superin tendent of Georgia schools, the latest Gallup survey of parents and educators cites disciplinary difficulties as the number one problem in the nation’s schools. Recent approval of corporal punishment in the schools by the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as the continuing vocal con troversy over its probable ef fectiveness, shows that parents and educators are very con cerned about maintaining order in the schools. But Edwards does not see “the paddle” as the most effective or the sole means of maintaining discipline. According to Edwards, the most frequently mentioned cause of discipline problems in the schools is students’ lack of interest in the work. Edwards says that schools must expand their offerings in order to provide appropriate in structions for those disniterested students. “All children are not academically oriented and interested in academic cour ses,” says Edwards. “I don’t believe we should water down our academic training to suit the non-academic students. We should provide vocational ''' *.' ** • i; *■ / W/’J* r ~ i 2»p* - ' >< - .4- jkl' ■MI j ■ jrlrsHflZ v a (Bi M , c *'* . ' ' ■" ■ *■■ ' . ..< .'■■■' ’ •'“*' .■■ ■' w* '> >a '• * "' «• « ' ♦- > ' * Back to school WASHlNGTON—Accompanied by a Secret Service agent, Amy Carter, daughter of President and Mrs. Carter, arrives at Stevens Elementary School for the first day of classes Wednesday. Amy, who will be 10 on Oct. 19, will be starting the fifth grade at the public school. (AP) Discover raBEN FRANKLIN Y COLLEGE HILL SHOPPING PLAZA L*- GRIFFIN, GA. We bring variety to life! •■’■■' ' ’ 40-Quart Capacity ITT. • ’ sit-on ' !;: ■ HAMPER : !| , |l 1 %. *449 „e„e pretty wicker insert design. Decorator colors ■i Each I training for these people; first, so they can be employed when they finish school and, second, so they will be able to enroll in courses in which they have some goal, in which they can achieve and in which their in terests lie.” Edwards praises the com prehensive high school concept for providing both academic and vocational education and thus better meeting the needs of a variety of students. He expresses hopes that the con cept will be more widely adopted. SOLVING THE PROBLEM But, what else can be done with disorderly students? Corporal punishment, suspension and expulsion are said to be not very successful methods for coping with classroom disruptors. Indeed, suspension and expulsion are said to compound the problem by removing the student from adult supervision, including that of working parents, resulting in failing grades and premature termination of schooling. Too often the problem student goes on to be an unemployed dropout or criminal. In-house suspension and alternate schools are 2 disciplinary measures being tried in Georgia public schools. Both consist of removing disruptive students from the classroom, as in suspension and expulsion, but maintain classroom work and adult supervision. In-house suspension assigns disruptive students to a separate classroom within the school. The alternate school system assigns them to a central building. The Houston County school system employs the alternate school program. Hubert Hut cherson, assistanty superin tendent for instruction, says the program has provided a suc cessful disciplinary alternative to Houston school staffs. Students punished with in house suspension or assignment to alternate schools are isolated from their classmates and not allowed to participate in ex tracurricular activities. They are required to complete work assignments sent them by their regular teachers. Their day is very much regulated and requirements are strict, says Hutcherson. On the other hand, individual attention and counseling are provided the students by a staff of 2 teachers, 2 para professionals and a full-time guidance counselor. Basic in struction in English, mathematics, science and social studies helps to remedy academic deficiencies which may have contributed to discipline problems. Individual conuseling about disruptive behavior by the guidance counselor attempts to help students understand their problems and seek more ap propriate ways to express themselves, as well as modify their classroom behavior. Hutcherson claims Houston County schools have ex perienced a decrease in disciplinary problems as a result of the program. Not many students repeat the Educator sees gains in status of disabled By CONNIE GRZELKA AP Newsfeatures Writer NEW YORK (AP) - Chil dren gaped. Sales clerks ig nored her and shoppers either fussed over her or moved on to another counter when a dis abled woman in a wheelchair visited a shopping center here on a busy weekend. The woman, however, was not truly disabled. Carrying a concealed tape recorder, she was one of Dr. Shirley Cohen’s students on an assignment to simulate a handicapped person; “At the end of the tape, you could tell how she was ready to break down after less than a day of these reactions,” Dr. Co hen says. “So you can imagine what it’s like for disabled per sons who have been ex periencing this for years.” Dr. Cohen, 40, director of the special education development center at the City University of New York, and assistant pro fessor of education at Hunter College, is the author of the recently published “Special People.” While her book views the long-term and everyday prob lems faced by the handicapped, as well as medical and tech nological advances, Dr. Cohen also explains why society fears the disabled. In an interview here, the 5- foot-1 professor explained that although the handicapped have been making headlines because most of the provisions of “The Education of All Handicapped Children Act of 1975” are now going into effect in the nation’s schools, “there’s still a lot of isolation.” The new law, which Dr. Co hen speaks of as the “Bill of Rights for Handicapped Chil dren,” mandates that disabled youngsters can no longer be ex cluded from the public educa tion system. As the laws are enforced, she notes, “we’re going to come into closer contact with the handicapped. As children in the schools are exposed to those with disabilities at an earlier age, they won’t perceive them as strange.” Most people had no contact with disabled persons when they were young, and parents’ attitudes often encouraged their children to be afraid of the handicapped because they are different, she maintains. Dr. Cohen says her own daughter expressed a fear of “catching handicap germs” from a disabled person when she was 5. “This fear of ‘handi cap germs’ is a common feel ing, not just among children, but with adults as well — it’s just not put into words. “We still have a long way to go. We’ve made progress in casual relationships, but other findings show that we still re- alternate school, and some improvements in their ad justment to the school en vironment has been noted by the students’ regular teachers. The in-house suspension and alternate school programs also include in-service training of administrators, teachers and para-professionals to help them better understand the problems of unruly students. The staff also learns ways of coping with troublemakers in a more positive manner. Staff development programs em phasize positive reinforcement, resolution of classroom con flicts through mutual problem solving and avoidance of communications which anger, embarrass or damage a student’s self-respect. WORKING FOR STAFF Trying another angle, the Hogansville City school system has instituted “transactional analysis” workshops for its staff. The approach involves the analysis of interpersonal relationships. The purpose of the workshops is to help school staff members learn to seek the roots of a student’s problem rather than deal merely with symptoms. “A major problem in the schools,” says Louis E. Brummet, superintendent of the Hogansville City system, “is that relations between students and teachers are all too often superficial. They are based on an authoritative relationship of teacher over student rather than mutual trust and respect. Consequently, teachers, per ceive student misbehavior as a defiance of authoriity rather than a manifestation of a student’s psychological pain.” As an example, Brummet cites the teacher who orders “Pay attention!” to a kV II ■» »i vim Ik. ' '■ SHIRLEY COHEN ject intimacy and fear close ness with people who have a disability.” The growing militancy of the handicapped was somewhat threatening to professionals in the field at first, she said. But these groups are now accepted as civil rights interests just coming for their due and are no longer just viewed as angry people, Dr. Cohen adds. “Many of them are old and there’s a chance that if most members of the population live past 65, they’ll be handicapped later in life, so it’s everybody’s problem,” she says. Ten per cent of the popu lation is handicapped, accord ing to the educator, who has a doctorate in developmental psy chology from Columbia Univer sity. She notes that 8 million are children between the ages of 1 and 21. After spending 18 years in the special education field, Dr. Co hen points to many changes that have occurred over those years, particularly the end of a teacher shortage and more at tention to the disabled: “We probably have more bright young teachers than ever before. In the past, such schools were buried in base ments and out of the way, but are coming into the mainst ream now. “In the old days, the field was functioning at a low level. There were more vacancies for teachers and even a stigma at tached to such a teaching posi tion.” She also cites important tech nological advances including an electric wheelchair with mouth controls for quadriplegics, cal culators with a talking output for the blind and the elec tronically operated myoelectric arms, activated by tiny electric impulses from the person’s existing muscles. All of these devices represent a kind of “breakthrough” to make life more liveable for the handicapped, Dr. Cohen says. daydreaming student. The student is embarrased and angry at being singled out and responds disrepectfully. The, teacher feels that the student is defying authority and seeks to exert more authority. A major confrontation results. “I’ve seen many problems which began as simple situations end up in the prin- , ■ Special toys. Special prices. PRE-SEASON TOY SALE SAVE 30% to 40% Closeouts From Our Fall 1976 Christmas Catalog. Check The Page Number and Hurry In and Save. Small Deposit Will Hold Your Selection Until Dec. Ist Quantities Are Limited So Shop Early. STINGER CAR Orig. 11.88. Page 483. 5 Only Cox Gas Powered. Now 7.88 4 LANE RACE SET Orig. 38.88. Page 466. 5 Only Now 24.99 SPIRIT OF n TRAIN SET Orig. 59.88. Page 459. 3 Only A true collectors item. HO gauge. Now 39.99 SMOKE AND WHISTLE TRAIN SET Orig. 31.88. Page 460. 12 Only Now 24.99 STUNT PLANE Orig. 11.77. Page 482. 10 Only. Now 7.88 COMBINATION ROAD RACE AND TRAIN SET Orig. 44.88. Page 461. 7 Only. Now 34.88 TANK COMMAND GAME Orig. 9.99. Page 389. 14 Only. Now 5.99 RANCH TRACTOR Orig. 29.99. Page 363. 10 Only. For Ages 3 To 7. Molded Plastic. Now 19.99 MOTOR CROSS CYCLE Orig. 7.95. Page 371. 14 Only. Ages 2-5. Pedel Cycle. Now 4.99 Many Other Items Available At Comparable Savings Store Hours . |( >1 Catalog Phone -Mon.-Sat. 10-9 11 J 227-1220 Sun. 1-5 1205 W. Taylor St. 48 Hr * Service cipal’s office,” says Brummet. “Transactional analysis helps teachers learn to recognize a problem and defuse a poten tially explosive situation rather than escalate tension, anger and conflict.” Brummet says the tran sactional analysis workshops are the direct cause of the highly positive attitude being displayed by teachers at the beginning of this school year. He hopes teachers will not only use the method in coping with classroom disturbances but wil l also teach transactional analysis to their students so they, too, will know better how to handle interpersonal relationships. Georgia schools are tackling DOLL LAYETTE SET Orig. 4.99. Page 500. 30 Only. For 14 to 16” Doll. Now 99* FUNNY CAR RACE SET Orig. 23.99. Page 467. 11 Only. Now 14.99 SUPER POSH MOLDED PLASTIC PEDAL CAR Orig. 14.99. Page 368. 10 Only. Now 9.99 AIR SOCCER GAME Orig. 39.99. Page 398. 2 Only. Now 22.99 HUSH LI'L BABY (BLACK) Orig. 10.66. Paae 496. 6 Only. Now 7.99 ERECTOR STARTER SET Orig. 4.77. Page 375. 10 Only. Now 1.99 FISHER PRICE CAMERA Orig. 7.49. Page 355. 36 Only. Now 3.99 SESAME STREET ® BERT & ERNIE AM RADIO Orig. 7.88. Page 512. 48 Only. Now 3.99 SESAME STREET ® WOOD PLAY BLOCKS Orig. 5.99. Page 348. 16 Only. Now 3.44 the problem of discipline from a variety of angles. Whether the technique deals directly with the student, as in alternative schools, or with the staff, as intransactional analysis, the aims are the same. “We must accept the fact,” says Deputy Superintendent Edwards, “that we cannot let one unruly child disrupt the learning process of 25 or 30 other children.”
