Re: [Phys-L] Private schools

[Jeff Bigler <jcb@mit.edu>]

On 7/10/2012 9:30 PM, Marty Weiss wrote:
> A selected dictionary of special schools and programs:

> expulsion:  ??? full expulsion doesn't happen:  usual definition:  to be sent to some alternative school where the teachers are like drill sergeants and they have to attend indefinitely.   
>
> alternative school:  one of several schools for incorrigibles until they are of age (usually 16 or 18 I forget which).  then they are allowed to drop out and become the police's problem. 

My school does kick kids out, not just for things like weapons and
drugs, but also after they've had too many suspensions for less major
behavioral problems.  (I think too many is at least a half dozen, but
I'm not sure exactly where that line is.)

Kids who are kicked out but realize that they ultimately need a diploma
generally enroll in night school.  (The night school program in Lynn is
called the Lynn Evening Education Program, or LEEP.  Classes are held at
my school.)  The teachers are many of the same teachers who teach
regular classes during the day--it's a great way to earn extra money.
The LEEP students are a combination of high school-age drop-outs, adults
who dropped out and came back because they realized that they need a
diploma, and paroled criminals--usually drug dealers, pimps and thieves,
but there are a few supposedly reformed rapists and killers in the mix
too.  (Yes, father-rapers, sittin' right there on the group W bench!)
After a year in LEEP, the kids who are still young enough to re-enroll
in the regular high school do so, and they are absolute angels for the
rest of their high school careers.

Yes, it works out to be kind of an unintentional "scared straight"
situation.  Part of why it's so effective is that the LEEP teachers
don't care.  They just teach the classes for anyone who wants to learn.
 They don't do or say anything to differentiate the school-age drop-outs
from the violent criminals on parole.  Being on a par with hardened
criminals and being treated on an absolutely equal basis with them,
without comment, gives quite a few of the kids serious pause for
thought.  (Not to mention that the kids know that when class is over,
they and the hardened criminals will head out the door to the same
darkened streets.)
-- 
Jeff Bigler
Lynn English HS; Lynn, MA, USA
"Magic" is what we call Science before we understand it.