This week readers sent me two articles that, despite being on different topics, are connected. The first discussed a report that showed DC charter schools expelling students at a much higher rate, and for much smaller infractions, than DC public schools. (New York City public schools, for frame of reference, cannot expel any students--they can only suggest and push for transfers to different schools or alternative programs.) The second discussed the behavioral and learning problems faced by boys in traditional academic settings, and the fact that men are consistently lagging behind women in college graduation rates.

The first article confirmed one of my long-standing critiques of charter schools--namely, that to the extent that they get better results than their public counter-parts, this can be attributed to theirkicking out students who cause problems. Disruptive students, who waste class time, distract their peers, talk back to teachers, and start arguments with peers, are undeniably one of the biggest problems faced by low-performing schools. But someone has to teach these kids, and while the question of whether schools should be allowed to expel students (and for what infractions) is germane, it is a separate issue from the ones I'm discussing in this blog post. The bottom line is, the kids in our public school classrooms have myriad educational, emotional, and behavioral needs.

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