Why Predictable Consequences Are So Important

What has made behavior get worse over the last couple of years and especially very recently in America's schools?

I think one thing that doesn't get talked about enough is the dismantling of progressive discipline.

We have lots going on in our society, you know, certainly the pandemic has affected families and screen time has affected families and Changes in parenting styles have affected how kids behave when they come to school.

But one thing schools have changed is their approach to discipline.

And often this is called trauma informed.

Often this is, you know, changes that are made in the name of equity that have the effect of removing predictable consequences from the experience of schooling.

Like normally kids, know what to expect in terms of behavior.

If you do certain things that are not allowed, you will face certain consequences.

And in some cases, those consequences have been banned by state legislatures.

You know, elementary students in a lot of states can't be suspended until maybe fourth grade.

And there are good reasons for a lot of these changes, but dismantling and undermining progressive discipline is kind of an unintended consequence of a lot of them.

And if we understand just kind of the system of incentives that's in place with progressive discipline and compare that with the system that's in place without progressive discipline, we realize pretty quickly that there's no real reason to worry about your behavior if you're a student.

If there are no predictable consequences, like if there's a very remote chance you're going to get in trouble for anything you do, well, why worry about it?

Why bother behaving?

Why bother not punching that kid who ticks you off or throwing a chair at that teacher you don't like if it's unlikely that anything is going to happen in terms of a meaningful consequence?

And we don't like consequences as adults.

We think consequences are unpleasant, and they are.

But I think we haven't appreciated how necessary they are for constraining behavior, for preventing the violence that is really destroying a lot of schools right now.

So I'm of the belief that consequences are not a bad thing.

They're not a bad word.

And I'm of the belief that they are not harmful to kids, but that they're really an essential part of how kids learn what is acceptable behavior and how we keep schools safe.

So look up progressive discipline, ask about progressive discipline in your school.

I'm almost 100% sure that your school or district has a progressive discipline policy if you're a parent.

You can probably look on your school's website and find out what the progressive discipline policy is.

And if your school has recently become unsafe or chaotic, chances are very, very good that some of those kind of trauma informed ideas or, you know, just kind of various reforms in the name of being more supportive and empathetic towards students have undermined.

progressive discipline.

And students now don't expect any kind of consequence when they do the kinds of things that are making their school unsafe.

I can almost guarantee that is the case if your school has recently become unsafe.

So look into that.

Let me know what you find.

And if you're interested in progressive discipline, do some research.

If you go to principalcenter.com slash PD for progressive discipline, we have a resource page with lots of information and a free webinar you can watch about progressive discipline.

I don't have anything for sale on this.

I just want everybody to know that progressive discipline is how we have kept schools safe for generations.

And we didn't really know what we were doing in dismantling it.

So I think we've got to put those pieces back in place.

So support progressive discipline.