# Oklahoma City public school suspends 136 sixth graders **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 25, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418 "2004-03-25T20:30:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/1 "2004-03-25T20:30:08Z")
[Link](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4601707/) > [@](#): > > On Monday, 16 students were suspended for behavioral problems. Another 120 were sent home on Wednesday when chaos erupted in the cafeteria. > [@](#): > > Prinicipal Elaine Ford took immediate action, suspending 136 6th graders - almost the entire class. Wow… I think I’m going to change my location to “Not Oklahoma” ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/2 "2004-03-25T21:00:51Z")
Damn! Wish I had been part of a class like that when I was in 6th grade! 🆒 😃 ---
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/3 "2004-03-25T21:52:56Z")
Wow. The principal must have something very large up his bottom to suspend 136 students. I wonder what they did. Anyway, that is a very tiny class. One of the upper classes has over 1000. ---
**Author:** ![Carm6773](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/4 "2004-03-25T22:43:37Z")
It’s about time an administrator got tough! The admins at the school where I teach are weak, \* and the kids know it\*. Even though the principal is female, I think she has balls of steel. **BRAVO!!!** ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/5 "2004-03-25T23:52:15Z")
> [@flamingbananas](#): > > Wow. The principal must have something very large up his bottom to suspend 136 students. I wonder what they did. Anyway, that is a very tiny class. One of the upper classes has over 1000. Just goes to show how relative things can be…the entire grade 6 class of my school was about 45 kids! 136 kids would have been a suspension of nearly half the school! ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/6 "2004-03-26T01:39:18Z")
I wonder how many of the 136 students parents were outraged at the school officals, rather than their kid, who was apparently doing something disruptive. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/7 "2004-03-26T03:44:02Z")
Thank God it wasn’t _my_ kid! ---
**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/8 "2004-03-26T03:55:04Z")
How could they possibly know which of the 136 kids were involved and which ones were just caught in the middle? ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/9 "2004-03-26T04:04:12Z")
Some how or other, this will be made into a Disney Feel-Good movie. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_Ice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f1d935/32.png) [@Lady\_Ice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_Ice)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/10 "2004-03-26T04:24:39Z")
Chaos erupted in the cafeteria? Why am I imagining… **FOOD FIGHT!!!** If that’s the case, it’s just a bit of harmless fun. Just make the kids clean it up. It’s not worth suspending them over. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/11 "2004-03-26T07:18:18Z")
> [@Gamaliel](#): > > How could they possibly know which of the 136 kids were involved and which ones were just caught in the middle? Does it matter? A blanket proscription like this one has the extra added effect of discouraging everyone from doing stupid stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/12 "2004-03-26T07:45:28Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > Does it matter? A blanket proscription like this one has the extra added effect of discouraging everyone from doing stupid stuff. It teaches children to disrespect authority because it is arbitrary and unfair. It encourages kids to misbehave if they’re going to get punished regardless of what they do because they’ve been labeled a troublemaker. YMMV, but I know that my bad behavior in school only increased when I got punished for things I didn’t do. ---
**Author:** ![Andros\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Andros\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andros_X)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/13 "2004-03-26T07:51:47Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > Does it matter? A blanket proscription like this one has the extra added effect of discouraging everyone from doing stupid stuff. OK, so if a riot was happening on the same street corner you happened to be on, the police have the right to spray mace in your face, handcuff you, and haul you off to jail? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/14 "2004-03-26T08:33:39Z")
> [@Gamaliel](#): > > It teaches children to disrespect authority because it is arbitrary and unfair. It encourages kids to misbehave if they’re going to get punished regardless of what they do because they’ve been labeled a troublemaker. YMMV, but I know that my bad behavior in school only increased when I got punished for things I didn’t do. Really? You never did pushups because your teammate screwed up? I think that it actually enhances respect for authority precisely because it’s arbitrary and unfair. What kid wants to go home and tell their parents that they were suspended because someone else did something? It encourages some self-restraint and policing through peer pressure. I thnk we’re looking at this from to different perspectives. I’m looking at it through the eyes of someone who went through Basic Training and learned some discipline where there previously was none, and that’s how they did it. Group punishment and team building under a very structured environment. There wasn’t even a thought about a food fight, or any kind of defiance for that matter. Compare that to grade school or high school, where the worst punishment you can expect to get is a hand slap, and that’s only if the parents don’t complain. I think schools would be better off if they were more militarily structured. **Andros\_X** , yes they do. It’s not their job to figure out how the riot started or who is participating, it’s their job to break it up. And besides, teaching kids that kind of lesson will make them remember it in the future when it’s a real riot and not a food fight. ---
**Author:** ![Carm6773](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2bfe46/32.png) [@Carm6773](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carm6773)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/15 "2004-03-26T12:44:05Z")
> [@misstee](#): > > I wonder how many of the 136 students parents were outraged at the school officals, rather than their kid, who was apparently doing something disruptive. Speaking as a teacher, therein lies the problem with the majority of our problematic youth. Speaking as a Guidance intern, IMHO, a lot of these kids that doctors “say” have ADHD or ODD (oppositional defiant disorder) are really just suffering from a bad case of Spoiled Brat. The treatment? Easy: say NO often and have the hand meet the backside every now and then. I’m not advocating beating children, nor am I saying ADHD or ODD doesn’t exist. I just think we are overdiagnosing a disorder that could be prevented by more assertive parenting. Unfortunately, it’s soooo much easier just to give the kid a pill or lean on the disorder as a crutch than the parent to admit they messed up. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/16 "2004-03-26T12:55:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Really? You never did pushups because your teammate screwed up? This is very different, usually the ‘authority figure’ who imposes the penality knows who did the wrong action and you know that they know it as well as everyone else. The punishment is to the perp in the way that the rest of the ‘team’ has a lower opinion of him. It also needs a more cohesive team then just a class in a school. In this case I’m sure that people din’t know who did what and the kids know that. The kids see the puishment as arbirtrary, which IMHO makes them less respectful. In my own school life I have seen this pattern, and the punishments that I had that I remember are mainly for things I didn’t do. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/17 "2004-03-26T14:40:42Z")
> [@Airman Doors](#): > > I thnk we’re looking at this from to different perspectives. I’m looking at it through the eyes of someone who went through Basic Training and learned some discipline where there previously was none, and that’s how they did it. I think there’s a difference between saying, “Jones screwed up, so the entire flight gets an extra half hour of drill practice” (saw this once while caught in traffic trying to get off Lackland the weekend my brother graduated) and a middle school administrator giving up and saying, “I don’t know who started it, you’re all going to be punished anyway!” That’s assuming that the kids in question even view suspension as an actual punishment – I’d have been in real trouble at home had I ever been suspended, but I knew others who wouldn’t. And if I’d been suspended _unfairly_ the way a chunk of these kids presumably were the wrath of God, in the form of my mom, would have descended on said school. ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/18 "2004-03-26T15:04:03Z")
I think these mass punishments are unfair. I remember on several occasions when I was in school, teachers giving “whole class” detention because they wern’t sure who had done it. (Whatever it was that needed punishing.) I always skipped them though, and got away with it. ---
**Author:** ![misstee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@misstee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misstee)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/19 "2004-03-26T15:08:30Z")
> [@whiterabbit](#): > > And if I’d been suspended _unfairly_ the way a chunk of these kids presumably were the wrath of God, in the form of my mom, would have descended on said school. How many of these kids went home and said, “Mom, I am a sh\*thead, I got suspended for \” Kids lie. I am sure a good amount of the guilty kids went home and said “Mom, I was innocent. I was just sitting there eating my lunch and then I was suspended.” Hell, with out photographic proof, many parents will say “Not my darling, s/he would never do such a thing”. Even with photographic proof some parents would still insist their kid could do no wrong. Negative peer pressure works. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418/20 "2004-03-26T15:15:12Z")
Not another Bush [fundraiser](http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/bush/articles/2004/03/25/visit_by_bush_to_snarl_roads_spur_protests/)! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-city-public-school-suspends-136-sixth-graders/236418.md?page=2)