In Schools, How Tight Must Discipline Be?

HOW far should a school go in disciplining an unruly student? And what responsibility do parents bear for that youngster’s behaviour?

These are issues that American educators and parents perpetually wrestle with, and they have been debated around Westchester recently because of two incidents that have received attention not just in coffee shop chitchat but also in the news media.

Parents and school officials are not always wise in such situations. More commonly, they agonize and improvise, trying to draw fine lines between offensive behaviour and the natural need of teenagers to define themselves by testing limits.

By JOSEPH BERGER, Published: July 6, 2008, Westchester

To read the article, click:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/06colwe.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin