Carmen Puchulu, Columnist
Most people have heard about the whole clock incident with Ahmed Mohamed. To sum it up, he pieced together a clock and showed it to a schoolteacher who thought it was a bomb and reported it to the police.
The incident earned him a three day suspension from school. While unfair, it does bring to light a subject that schools across the United States need to address, and that topic is suspensions (as well as expulsions) as punishment for behavior at school.
The punishment of suspending students is, in reality, an incredibly stupid way to punish a student. It does not teach the student about their behavior warranting such a punishment. All it truly does is temporarily deal with the problem by shoving it in a box and hoping it will go away on its own.
Except the problem does not go away that easily. If problems were able to dissolve into nothingness by ignoring them, the world would be an easier place to live in. The fact of the matter is that behavioral problems are never what they appear to be on the surface.
They have roots deep in the consciousness of the individual that need to be brought to light in some way, shape or form. Ignoring the fact that the child in question has a problem that needs to be addressed does not help the child’s psyche in any way; in fact, it can make the problem worse. Some of the students are looking for ways to be noticed, even if it is in a bad light.
This attention is usually for a greater problem that even they might not know what it is. Some of the students have mental disabilities and have no other way of expressing their emotions, most likely frustration.
By taking these students out of school, not only does it not help their situation, but it also denies them of the learning that is important for them moving forward. It teaches kids that they should only keep to themselves and not “rock the boat” as it so were; it teaches them to bury their problems because no one is going to help them.
It is a good thing that schools across the United States are looking at this issue and are looking for alternative ways to address behavioral problems and are not solely going for the easy way of “dealing” with those problems.
Looking at behavioral problems head on, with the intention of getting to the root of the problem, will not only help the student in question in the long run, but will make the school community a better place.