Are schools choosing money over pupil discipline?

The issue of discipline in schools is again a topic of discussion. While homes are the biggest excuse for the child’s behaviour, schools need to also question their ability to deal with pupils who are problematic.

Scroll through social media and parents in dire straits are lamenting their economic struggles, while schools are threatening financial exclusion.

The common outcome is that these schools are surgically accurate in implementing financial exclusionary measures, but are struggling with discipline.

They would rather keep the children who go toe-to-toe with teachers and other pupils, as opposed to children who are disadvantaged by their parents’ economic missteps.

Academically, possibly underachieving and with very little interest in their own performance scholastically, their transgressions are more forgiveable than those of financially strapped pupils.

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This being said brings to light that schools are indeed businesses that are more concerned about their financial well-being than they are in the betterment of pupils who come through their gates.

When I attended Glenvista High many years ago, discipline preceded financial standing.

Their school management would have problematic pupils expelled in the presence of their rich parents and they did this with no shame.

Now, we the alumni, have asked ourselves, is this what has become of Glenvista High School?

And the answer is, yes. Not just at Glenvista but all schools across the board. Schools seek to monetise education and prioritise income over the output of pupils that they produce.

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These pupils bring the schools into disrepute and we are all expected to co-sign that these are children beyond reproach, but forgetting that this did not happen overnight. It was continuous. This particular incident was not isolated; there was a build-up and what we saw was the eruption.

It is when such incidences occur that I am then reminded of the schools that gate keep their premises and are particular about familial connection to gain entry into their institutions. It is rare to hear of such, so what is it that they are doing differently?

They are so clear in their emphasis on money matters that they then align their docking system to finances.

In short, at the heart of it all, it’s money.

But now, it is a sparring match of finances over discipline… and discipline is not coming out tops.

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