Creating a Culture of "It Wasn't Me!"

In my brief experience as a teacher, one of the most frustrating things was that my middle schoolers very rarely owned up to doing wrong. "It wasn't me!" was by far one of the most common phrases I heard on a daily basis.

I am a believer that kids learn behaviors in response to their environments and experiences. Therefore, I believe this response was learned. I also believe that the public school environment is a perfect breeding ground for such behavior. After all, no one ever wants to take responsibility when things go awry in public education. However, I don't think that's what directly causes such behavior in students.

I have to wonder if the Zero-Tolerance policy employed by many schools is primarily to blame for our students' adamant denial of wrongdoing. I say this because Zero-Tolerance by definition means there is no due process and anyone thought to be doing wrong is automatically punished without being allowed to defend himself. So if a kid really is innocent, she will vehemently declare it wasn't her, for fear of punishment without ever getting to tell her side or explain her behavior. I can't tell you how many situations were resolved when I just allowed my students to explain (after class) what happened. Sometimes students would even write me notes to explain the situation and avoid punishment.  

As a disclaimer, I do think a Zero Tolerance policy is necessary in some urban schools where gang violence is a problem. But it shouldn't be the norm.

So what is the alternative? I have heard of a few schools that have a peer review setup, where a group of students will decide on the appropriate consequence for the offending student. I like this idea, as it more closely mirrors society and creates a culture of accountability. Moreover, it can be a valuable experience for the peer jurors and can help the offending student see things from his peers' perspectives.

Many discipline problems could be avoided in the first place if our schools used researched-based practices and weren't overcrowded. For example, as I mentioned in my previous post, brain research is rarely (if ever) applied to teaching. Another example: I have an entire book on movement aiding in memory and yet kids are often expected to sit in their seats for the duration of class, which can partly be attributed to overcrowding. It's no wonder we have such rampant cases of ADD and ADHD. And since it relates, here is an article about ADHD being a hoax.