Things are not going well at Pinecrest Public School, a K-8 school in Ottawa Carleton District School Board.
Recent media reports reveal that Pinecrest is in a state of disarray and that many staff members have been suspended for raising concerns about rampant bullying and the lack of discipline. Michael Sternberg, a former grade 5 and 6 teacher at Pinecrest, publicly stated that many of his students told him that they felt unsafe at school.
Pinecrest’s problems appear to stem from the principal’s wholehearted embrace of “The Third Path” philosophy, which focuses on building positive relationships with students to address the “underlying causes” of misbehaviour. To achieve this objective, teachers need to move away from using rewards and punishments to control students.
This philosophy isn’t all bad. Obviously, it makes sense for teachers to develop positive relationships with students. The problem is that Pinecrest’s principal appears to have gone overboard by prioritizing the wishes and whims of students ahead of the professional judgment of the teachers.
For example, newsletters sent to Pinecrest’s staff tell teachers that they must “avoid getting into power struggles with kids,” and that “If students feel we do not trust them, they will show us this through escalated dysregulated behaviours.” According to Pinecrest’s principal, teachers “are not in this work to police children or to approach situations from a place of distrust and assumptions.”
With this woke approach, it comes as little surprise that Pinecrest has descended into chaos. When teachers are prevented from taking charge of their own classrooms, not much academic learning will take place. Sadly, the students who suffer the most in this situation are those who cannot stand up for themselves.
However, Rousseau was wrong, both about child development and about learning in general. The reality is that students learn best in a structured environment in which rules are clearly explained and consistently enforced. Far from limiting the progress of students, clear and consistent rules are an important way of keeping everyone safe. Just as traffic lights and stop signs make driving safer for everyone, school rules provide students with an orderly learning environment.
Rather than implementing extreme student-centred policies, school administrators should get serious about maintaining student discipline. Cracking down on bullying, maintaining orderly classrooms, and preventing physical altercations in the hallways are what school administrators should focus on. These are certainly the kinds of things that are now needed at Pinecrest Public School.
Sadly, far too many school administrators bend over backwards to accommodate troublemakers, even those who persistently disrupt the learning environment of other students. Progressive educators often place so much emphasis on keeping troublemakers with their peers in school that they refuse to punish students who repeatedly disregard the most basic rules.
If only it was that simple!
This permissive idealism is based on a hopelessly naïve understanding of human nature. The reality is that some students intentionally choose to disrupt class, bully their classmates, and destroy school property, regardless of the quality of instruction they receive. This certainly appears to be what is happening at Pinecrest. Teachers who are unable to enforce clear boundaries from the outset because administrators are not supporting them, often end up with unruly classrooms.
It makes far more sense for teachers and administrators to be in charge of schools. This doesn’t mean disregarding student input entirely, but it does mean acknowledging that professionals with specialized training in their field have more expertise in running a classroom than students do. There is nothing wrong with letting teachers do their jobs.
Teachers, not students, need to be in charge in school, including at Pinecrest.
