One means of curbing student misconduct, a measure that became common following the school shootings of the early 1990s (e.g. the incidents in Paducah, Kentucky and Littleton, Colorado), is the implementation of "zero tolerance" school security policies which mandate suspension or expulsion for any sort of violent student behaviour. Another common method for reducing student misbehaviour is to assign law enforcement officials the task of serving in schools. The most recent figures available from the U.S. Department of Justice show that more than 40% of municipal police departments and county sheriff departments have full-time officers assigned to serve in public schools. Yet another method for controlling unruly students is to administer psychiatric drugs such as methylphenidate; a drug best known by the brand name Ritalin. Recent reports indicate that between 2000 and 2005 the use of Ritalin in schools almost doubled and that, among ten-year-old boys, nearly one in ten is presently taking Ritalin or a similar drug.
I do not think and many people agree with me that corporal punishment in schools would improve bad behaviour. It would break down the trust between the teacher and pupil and I truly believe teachers would hate giving corporal punishment. The only way to improve bad behaviour is to generate a warm understanding between pupil and teacher and obviously an effective teacher produces the best results. Some children are too difficult to control in main stream schools and I believe those most challenging individuals should be taught in special schools with appropriate teachers. A disruptive pupil can affect the concentration of the whole class and if facilitation or mediation fails the they should be segregated. It is important that a school identifies the underlying reason why a pupil is disruptive and treats the cause.
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