Re-education: Under new federal guidelines for reforming "discriminatory" school discipline, the disruptive will learn quickly that their teachers must now tolerate even more disruptive behavior.
This is about the only learning that will be going on, especially in inner-city schools, once this insane policy is fully implemented.
This week the Education Department warned the nation's school administrators it's not a good idea to remove unruly kids from the classroom. What about the violent ones? Suspend them only as a "last resort." Think twice about even sending them to the principal, and whatever you do, don't call the cops.
Obama's educrats say minorities bear the brunt of these "draconian" practices. And based on statistics they've cooked up showing racial "disparities" in punishment, they smell school racism on a national scale.
Principals who want to avoid lawsuits and hold on to their funding would be well advised to adopt a "non-punitive" approach to handling discipline problems called "restorative justice," a remedy recommended in the guidance package the department released Wednesday.
This is when irresponsible social policy-making turns dangerous.
Restorative justice, also called reparative justice or distributive justice, is part of a fringe civil rights movement that demands the abolition of prisons. Under this approach to justice, there are no offenders. Just victims. It trivializes crime and has increased recidivism wherever it has been applied.
Intimidated by federal investigations, hundreds of school districts across the country already have hired civil rights activists to train faculty in the finer points of restorative justice.
White staffers are taught to check their "unconscious racial bias" — also known as their "whiteness" — when dealing with minority students who act out. They are told to open their eyes to "white privilege" and have more empathy for black kids who may be lashing out in frustration. They're trained to identify "root causes" of black anger, such as America's legacy of racism. Teachers are advised to avoid "trigger" words, and watch their "tone."
They're also told to respect black "culture," which is described as more "emotional." (Talk about racism.) Restorative justice tells teachers to give disruptive students a pass when they curse and threaten them because "African-American boys are demonstrative" and that's just how they "engage in learning."
In other words, if black students are acting out, it's your fault. You didn't validate their victimhood.
Of course victims don't deserve punishment. So troubled kids under this approach are allowed to negotiate the consequences for their bad behavior, which usually takes the form of rehabilitation through counseling and therapy. Often, teachers and students sit in "talking circles" and develop "empathy and respect" for one another. Talk invariably turns to racism and white privilege.