Adam Gillman, Socialist Students
‘Has discipline gone too far in schools?’ This is the question raised in the BBC Radio 4 documentary: ‘File on 4 Investigates – Strict schools: Taking discipline too far?’
The documentary has many examples of what students face in secondary school. Launceston College has uniform inspections and silent corridors.
One student said: “You’re not allowed to pick up a pen unless you’re told to.” If you do this twice, you’re sent to intervention.
In intervention, students sit in silence, watched between plastic dividers for most or all of the day. Intervention can be used for acts such as speaking in the corridor, your top button not being done up, and losing focus.
“Zero-tolerance behaviour policies” have been implemented by school managements to control pupils. When there’s little funding for an education students need, it’s far easier to send pupils to a room than to have the staff to be able to help them develop.
Throughout history, students have played a role alongside the workers’ movement in campaigning to change things.
Students have organised against repression. In 1972 students organised in a students union, walking out of schools in London and protesting against corporal punishment in schools. Corporal punishment was ended in London in 1974, and nationally in 1986.
Student unions need to be rebuilt, so students can fight alongside workers. A student union gives students a way to discuss the issues and take collective actions, such as walkouts, to change things.
All across the world, young people are facing attacks on our futures, not only with repression in school, but increasing militarisation, wars, climate change and attacks on our living standards, while this capitalist system plunges further into crisis.
In 2019, hundreds of thousands of school students internationally walked out against climate change. Last year, Socialist Students led hundreds who walked out against Trump’s state visit to Britain.
Socialist Students is part of an international campaign for youth walkouts to ‘fight for our futures, not their wars’. We are helping to organise, school, college and university students to walkout on Friday 20 November.
Socialist Students 