This week, high school teachers across the NYC Department of Education computed marking period grades. For me, this meant "failing" more kids than I'd like (not uncommon in the 2nd marking period.) This will inevitably result in some of these kids being furious at me when they receive their grades, despite having been given ample opportunities to make up missed work or come ask questions during study hall. One of the problems I've noticed with some of our struggling students is a total lack of consideration about how their actions today will adversely affect the goals of tomorrow; the same kids who pleaded loudest with me at the beginning of the term that they had to pass English this time, and get this credit, are notably the ones who shirk their assignments, behave disruptively in class, or (depending on the time of day) cut completely.

Now, an increasing number of (mostly) charter schools have an answer to this question, in the form of "character education"--teaching everything from manners to citizenship to self-control in the classroom. One school in DC, profiled in the Washington Post education section a couple of weeks ago, insists that kids follow strict behavior rules, including walking silently to class and not moving around in their seats. Failure to follow these rules results in social ostracism, in the form of being forbidden to talk to anyone and being made to wear a mesh pinny over one's clothes. The theory is that, by teaching self-control during childhood, schools can help their students avoid serious problems such as jail-time later in life.

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