regarding he management of violent students in French schools (and for those of you who read French, you can visit a French government Justice Dpt page that sums up the 1945 legislation act and its revisions up until spetember 2002.
http://www.justice.gouv.fr/actua/ordo45.htm
Since the defeat of the Socialists and the change of government in France,
there has been a shift to a right wing politicy pretty similar to what
we have witnessed in the States under the Bush administration.
What strikes me is the rise of "Zero Tolerance" atttitude and arguments
in French politics 10 years after it has been adopted, apparently
with limited success in the States.
There is a street manifestation at this moment in France against the decision of the French minister of education Luc Ferry (who by the way is a renound philosopher who wrote quite a few academic and top selling books) to cut in the budget for auxiliary teaching staff in schools.
I haven't had time to read through the new Policy Act concerning violent and disruptive students in details, but I'll keep you informed.
Phil Gervaix
Switzerland
Teaching in the Psychological Sciences digest a *crit :
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: contingency management in France
From: sylvestm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 09:17:19 -0800 (PST)
X-Message-Number: 9The French government has decided that they have had it
with unruly,violent and disruptive students in the public
schools.The pending legislation is that any student
who presents a problem in class will be jailed.
And the parent will have to bail the student out.
In addition a parent of a disruptive student may lose
some of the allocated welfare benefits.Michael Sylvester,PhD
Daytona Beach,FloridaSubject: RE: contingency management in France
From: "Rick Adams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 13:24:25 -0500
X-Message-Number: 12Michael Sylvester wrote:
> The French government has decided that they have had it
> with unruly,violent and disruptive students in the public
> schools.The pending legislation is that any student who
> presents a problem in class will be jailed. And the parent
> will have to bail the student out. In addition a parent of a
> disruptive student may lose some of the allocated welfare benefits.As I haven't been able to find information about the legislation
on the Inet or in any of the news sources I use, just a couple
questions:1) Will the legislation mandate jailing of _all_ disruptive
students, or only those students who--via their disruptive behavior--are
violating other laws (i.e., assault, defacing property, vandalism,
etc.)?2) What specific offenses will the students be charged with by
the police?Clearly, if the disruptive behavior involves violation of other
laws currently in force, or involves the violation of the rights of
others (i.e., hate crimes, assault, etc.), the act of jailing them
simply becomes one of enforcement and "cracking down" on youth
offenders. On the other hand, if it involves such actions as
inappropriate classroom behavior (talking back to the instructor,
refusal to participate in activities, etc.) then the legislation is
simply creating a new form of status crime--something that the US is
famous for (i.e., truancy, curfew violation, etc.) and simply represents
another means of restricting the rights of youths.As far as holding the parents responsible, on the other hand,
it's about time that _someone_ was held responsible for the behavior of
disruptive kids. Ideally (yes, this is hard-nosed) disruptive kids
should be removed from the traditional classrooms and schools and should
be required to attend alternative schools where more rigid forms of
discipline (and less privileges) are available. Jailing them seems
excessive--removing them from an environment where they are preventing
other students from obtaining the maximum educational benefits available
to them, on the other hand, certainly is reasonable.Rick
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: contingency management in France
From: Jean-Marc Perreault <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 4 Dec 2002 13:44:37 -0500 (EST)
X-Message-Number: 13Hi Rick,
The problem I see with ostracizing "bad"
students is that by putting them all together into one
more "rigid: institution, they lack models of good
conduct. Isn't this what happens with
jails?puttingting criminals with other criminals, they
sure don't seem to learn how toabiding-obiding
citizens.This being said, I think society as a whole needs to
review it's views on responsibility. We all have
rights (especially youth) but no responsibilities. I
could see a chart of human rights tagged with a chart
of human responsibilities. And we should be held to
it. Too many peothe believe thw world owes them
everythithemwithout htem having to give back in
return.Anyhow, this is a very brief summary of how I view
things...Cheers!
PS: Regarding Sylvestrn's message about France, well,
as usual, there are no sources, no context, no
substance... So, until I actually get those, I just
ignore the message...Jean-Marc
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: contingency management in France
From: Marcie Desrochers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 04 Dec 2002 13:52:58 -0500
X-Message-Number: 14We know as behavioral scientists that a more effective way to manage
disruptive behavior would be to focus on what the kids should be doing and
positively reinforce desirable behavior!These kids may just emit more aggressive behavior, emotional behavior, and
emit the undesired behavior when the punisher is not around.Cheers!
Marcie
Marcie N. Desrochers, Ph.D., BCBA
Manager of BEHAV-AN Discussion Group
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology
66 George Street
College of Charleston
Charleston, SC 29424
(843)953-3840
FAX: (843)953-7151
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.cofc.edu/~marcieEducation is not a preparation to life; education is life itself."
- John Dewey
You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
