Today’s op/ed is not going to be well received by a number of my readers. What you’re about to learn are my beliefs pertaining to educating our students based on my practical experiences as a teacher, administrator, coach, and athletic official.

To digress a bit, many contemporary businesses are looking, almost begging to hire new employees, but many young people don’t want to work at entry level positions. They want top wages without proving their worth to employers.

Now when my late wife, Peggy, and I moved to Wheeling in 1970, we knew literally nobody in the area. We had to start at the bottom and work our way up. Peggy was employed as a waitress until she obtained a position as a dental assistant. She worked 31 years compassionately for a pediatric dentist and was loved by all the youngsters who came to their office.

I was initially hired by Ohio County Schools to teach at Edgington Lane Elementary School. But after two years, I was let go due to a reduction of professional employees. I then worked as a bartender while sending teacher applications everywhere, ultimately acquiring a teaching position at Wheeling Central Catholic High School for four years. Finally, I returned to Ohio County Schools, teaching reading and language arts, coaching, and later serving as Dean of Students at Warwood Middle School for 33 years before retiring.

Yes, it was a financial struggle for us at first. And even though Peggy and I were working, we actually qualified for food stamps, a program we were too proud to sign up for.

The point I’m trying to make is that life is all about perseverance, not giving up and moving forward after you stumble. That’s what Peggy and I learned from our parents and teachers. It’s a positive characteristic that many young people today lack, making excuses and blaming others for their troubles.

So, who’s at fault here? I would most definitely say the parents and our public- school systems. The following are my thoughts on how conditions in public schools can be improved.

FIXING THE PROBLEM

No one can deny the reality that public schools are in chaos regarding student discipline. That’s why West Virginia initiated the “Hope Scholarship” for parents who wanted a more discipline-oriented school environment regarding their children’s education. And many parents are taking advantage of the program. Furthermore, other states have followed suit.

Proof of this situation is the fact that many public schools are laying off teachers due to reduced pupil enrollment. Below are insightful recommendations for parents, teachers, and administrators in public schools based on my observations as a former educator.

Parents

Too often many of today’s parents lack the fortitude to support their schools when their son or daughter is misbehaving in the classroom. Instead, they defend their child’s disrespectful actions and unjustly rationalize that it is the teacher’s fault, suggesting that the teacher doesn’t like their offspring. End result: Their children will continue to misbehave in school, knowing that their parents will side with them.

In the past, we were afraid of what our parents would do to us if we got into trouble at school. They wholeheartedly backed the teachers and principals regarding our transgressions. Thus, there were far less discipline problems in the public schools back then.

So, parents, stop making excuses for your child!

If you continue to do so, your child’s problems at school (and throughout life) will only get worse. I speak from practical experience as a veteran K-12 classroom educator.

Teachers

First of all, don’t try to be your students’ buddy. They will take advantage of you any chance they get. Be firm, be fair, and be consistent when enforcing classroom rules. If at first the students fear you, that’s okay. As they mature into adulthood, that fear will turn into respect.

Furthermore, be teachers, not computer facilitators. You should spend 75% of class time instructing and interacting with the students before they jump into the world of technology. Now, more than ever, the students need the “human touch”. I speak from practical experience as a veteran K-12 classroom educator.

Principals

Be courageous and forthright. Don’t try to appease parents when their child is in trouble at school, hoping the problem will then go away. Be honest with them, even if they don’t like what you have to say. If they try to “bad mouth” a teacher, it is your responsibility as an administrator to vehemently defend the teacher at all costs. If not, you will lose teacher confidence and respect in your leadership abilities.

Classroom teachers are the “backbone” of public education. They’re the ones in the “trenches” who deal with the students on a daily basis. As principals, you must be the teachers’ advocate and allow no one to minimize their extreme importance in the school setting.

Don’t let your teachers down. I speak from practical experience as a veteran K-12 classroom educator.

Now for the Unpopular Truth

“Spare the Rod; Spoil the Child” is a biblical conclusion found in Proverbs, Chapter 13:24. Shakespeare put it another way: “Be Cruel to be Kind” in Hamlet. Such “tough love” advice is truly universal and derived from observing human nature.

As you have probably surmised from the above quotes, I am a steadfast proponent of “Corporal Punishment,” which has been abolished almost everywhere. But isn’t it ironic that since its removal from schools, student discipline has gradually gotten worse and worse over the years.

Hmmm. A coincidence. I think not.

Contrary to what higher education researchers contend, possessing very little K-12 teaching experience, corporal punishment most definitely worked. It had a lasting effect for me as a student on the receiving end of the “paddle” and for those students in which I performed such duties as a young teacher.

Should you disagree with me, ask any older individual who experienced corporal punishment if it was effective in correcting their student misdemeanors. The vast majority will respond with one word: “Absolutely!”.

In closing, if parents continue to defend their child’s negative actions in school, and if stricter consequences (including corporal punishment) for student misbehavior are not implemented, student discipline will continue to be a major problem in our public-school systems. And student-learning will continue to suffer along with declining test scores in reading and mathematics.

Again, I speak from practical experience as a veteran K-12 classroom teacher. And as John Dewey, the famous American educational philosopher, once stated:

“An ounce of experience is better than a ton of theory.”

(Dr. Bill Welker has taught in the inter-city schools of Pittsburgh, as well as in Wheeling’s private and public schools at all grade levels for 40 years. He has published over twenty scholarly articles in educational journals. After retiring, Welker, a reading specialist, authored “The Literacy Handbook” which he shared with school systems in West Virginia and Ohio throughout the upper Ohio Valley.)