A student enters your school and does nothing. Okay, nothing is not quite right. The student does no academic work, but he does cause constant distraction and disruption.

Does this sound familiar to you?

Students who come to school and do nothing but cause disruption happens on occasion in our halls and, sometimes, in our classrooms. It is not a stretch to say that in almost each student’s class schedule, whether s/he is a freshman or a senior, s/he has certainly been in at least one class where students behave in a manner that is not only rude and disrespectful, but that disrupts the learning environment.

The disruptive student – we’ll call him John Doe for privacy-sake – might pick a pointless fight one day, unleash a closetful of vulgar language and a dismissive attitude toward a teacher who has had the gall to ask him to stop the blatant misuse of his headphones and cellphone another day, or, for one last highlight to his week, repeatedly refuse a teacher and security order to leave a class due to his daily (to put it lightly) shenanigans.

Of course – for every ying there is a yang, and this topic is no different as John has a partner in his seemingly endless pursuit of misbehavior. Again, for privacy sake we will call the girl in question Jane Doe. Her attitudes do not vary from John’s, but, noting the gender difference, she does have her own target issues. From starting arguments over brushing and intensely styling her hair in the middle of a lesson, to being ridiculously unaccepting of her daily violation of the school dress code, Jane just doesn’t care.

But so what, right? On and on, throughout the four years of high school, classes seem to be unfairly divided into those who either endure or participate in this indomitable cycle.

In the entire scope of the American school system, students are treated as if they are babies; they are coddled after personally causing their own setbacks, and are given shortcuts to pave the right path for their lives. The effect of this leniency is that disruptive students not only cheat themselves out of learning the true power of education, but are cheated out of it by those who allow them to do so, in this case their teachers and administrators.

The pivotal issue is whether or not teachers and staff members fully recognize the effects of this leniency and second (third, and fourth) chance leniency. Are strong and firm consequences just too difficult to implement? Has the school system forced schools to coddle these types of students rather than discipline them in a manner that truly forces them to face their actions?

The “consequences” John and Jane Doe receive seem meaningless, both in the short-term and the long-run. These students are repeatedly told to “shape up” and “change their ways” but these words fall on deaf ears when harsh consequences do not exist. Short-lived consequences such as ISI and even out of school suspensions do not bring awareness to or escape from the ditch that these students repeatedly bury themselves in. The length of a consequence does not mean a student will change his/her ways; in fact, for students who see little value in school, time away from it does not make the heart grow fonder.

At Paint Branch, teachers and, more importantly, the administration unfortunately are forced to focus on the same John/Jane Doe`s who are sent to the main office or require security to come to classrooms. Instead they should be able to freely give their attention to the students that work hard, show dedication, and earn their education each day. As a result this would be addressing to the purpose of schools: educating and enriching the lives of young people.

Students who see school not as a playground, but, rather, as a place of learning should have the opportunity to learn in an environment with zero-tolerance for school-policy infractions and disturbance. However, because of state education regulations under the COMAR law zero-tolerance policies are restricted in schools. The reason is so an unfair proportion of minorities which are suspended or expelled from schools do not face educational disadvantages in their futures. Nevertheless, it is not fair to the students who daily show their dedication to their education to endure the inappropriate behaviors of their peers. It is the school’s job to ensure the best education in an equally just environment for all students.