Description of the Issue Selected
Introducing discipline into the school setting is a crucial step in maintaining order and ensuring that learners remain safe within the school setting. However, the introduction of punishments in any form has been proven to produce an overall adverse effect on learners’ mental health, as well as their motivation to study (Losen & Martinez, 2020). Specifically, reports mention a drop in the extent of engagement and among students that have faced repercussions from educators and school authorities (Losen & Martinez, 2020).
More disturbingly there has been evidence regarding adverse changes in learners’ mental health as a direct result of them being subjected to school punishments. The specified effects can also be attributed to the presence of rascal disparities within some school environments and the resulting instances of racial profiling in regard to introducing disciplinary actions against learners that misbehave or break the school rules in any other way (Losen & Martinez, 2020). Specifically, Losen and Martinez (2020) declare that “the stigma of punishment, is what suspended students experience when removed from school for breaking a rule, no matter how minor their misconduct” (p. iv). The specified measures also lead to a loss in the amount of in-person time that students spend with school counselors, which, in turn, reduces their chance to correct their behaviors. Thus, the issue of school punishments as a measure against instances of misbehavior and rule-breaking among learners needs to be revisited and adjusted accordingly to the realities of the present-day educational and sociocultural environments.
Explanation: Motivation for Selecting the Issue
The main reason for considering the specified issue as the topic worthy of being explored concerns the issues raised in disciplinary education recently regarding the adverse effects that punishments have on learners. Specifically, the fact that disciplinary actions against learners are likely to affect racial minorities and other vulnerable groups disproportionately makes the issue at hand deserving of closer scrutiny. Namely, the assessment of the exact threats that students face and the impact that punishments have on their academic performance, as well as their cognitive and social development, represents a crucial step needed to prevent further harm from being inflicted on the groups at risk.
In other words, the concern for students and the likelihood of them being affected by the tendency toward reinforcing disciplinary actions against breaking school rules serves as the main rationale behind choosing the specified topic. The dilemma between endorsing school policies and standards as the means of fostering appropriate values and behavior standards in students and the risks of affecting learners in a highly adverse and unpredictable way represents the main reason for selecting the topic in question. It is possible to continue promoting model behaviors among learners while ensuring that fairness and cultural competence remain the primary criteria for making decisions regarding behavior issues. By conducting an overview of the described problem and the range of available solutions, one will gain an in-depth understanding of the specified concern.
Preliminary Research Questions
In order to conduct the research properly and embrace the issue in its full extent, including its core themes and the related aspects of the problem, one will need a set of research questions that will guide the further analysis. In particular, the problem at hand will have to be attacked form the vantage point of core academic and sociocultural concerns. Therefore, the following research question will have to be considered when conducting the review of the available literature addressing the issue of school punishments:
- What range of punishments are currently adopted and encouraged in the context of the American academic setting/
- What are the core differences in the approach toward school punishments for students in different grades (i.e., kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, higher education)?
- How do educators approach cultural differences and the management of the cross-cultural dialogue in the situations involving students form diverse communities breaking the school rules?
- Are there any racial or ethnic disparities, or any other forms of prejudice, in the U.S. academic context defining the propensity toward singling out specific students for punishments?
- What strategies are deployed to ensure fairness in dispersing punishments among students?
- How can the current approach to addressing students’ breach of school rules be improved without imposing further harmful punishments on learners?
- How can a value system preventing learners from succumbing to prohibited behaviors be promoted to the target population?
Research Plan
In order to locate primary and secondary sources required for this research, the available databases will be examined thoroughly. Specifically, repositories of academic journals containing relevant articles will be searched to identify the information relevant to the problem at hand. Additionally, official sites of the government agencies responsible for the development and enforcement of the relevant school policies will be studied thoroughly to identify the information pertinent to the subject at hand. Namely, academic databases such as ERIC (formerly known as EBSCO), JSTOR, ResearchGate, Web of Science, and the associated repositories of peer-reviewed journals will be studied. Furthermore, tools such as Google Scholar will be used to search for the relevant articles. It is expected that the specified strategy will yield impressive results in terms of available data robustness.
Keyword Search Terms
The following keywords will be used in the course of the search: school punishments effects; school punishments disparities; strategies addressing learners’ behaviors; promoting behavior change students.
Reference
Losen, D. J., & Martinez, P. (2020). Lost opportunities: How disparate school discipline continues to drive differences in the opportunity to learn. Center for Civil Rights Remedies.