The Student Room Group

What do you think should be done about disruptive students in lessons?

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Original post by limetang
I was just wondering what your opinions are on this issue, because I'm sure most of us have experienced students who plain and simple aren't interested in learning and so stop everyone else from learning. I mean personally I think if someone doesnt want to learn and has demonstrated this fact they should be taken out of education as they're a detriment to people who want to learn. Although I do see that there may be some issues with this.

Anyway I was wondering what other students opinions were.



to be in a classroom should be considered a privelage. if you can't hack it and behave then you should be put in a class for dumbos. and if you can't hack that you should be allowed to play footie all day long, once a week being reminded that the longer you play football the more likely you'll become a toilet cleaner.
once the above system is set up, relax and let people make up their own decisions. some will decide to become doctors, others toilet cleaners, society needs both types of people.
Reply 301
Send them out of lesson for a week.
Reply 302
I think it's a bit harsh to say that, for example, someone is 12 years old and a trouble maker in school, that they shouldn't be allowed to have an education and should just be expelled. For some people it takes a long time for them to realise the importance of learning, and remember we're talking about the whole of education here.

People are saying "Expel them" without making it clear if they're speaking about GCSE and above or what. You can't just take a 12 year olds future into your own hands and destroy it by taking them out of education just because you can't handle the fact that they're talking in the same room as you. Do some extra work at home if you're that bothered by it, you can't blame anyone else if you don't do well; put in the effort out of lessons when there's no one there to disrupt you. And yes, that might seem unfair, but lets face it, what actually is entirely fair.
Original post by Grund
I think it's a bit harsh to say that, for example, someone is 12 years old and a trouble maker in school, that they shouldn't be allowed to have an education and should just be expelled. For some people it takes a long time for them to realise the importance of learning, and remember we're talking about the whole of education here.

People are saying "Expel them" without making it clear if they're speaking about GCSE and above or what. You can't just take a 12 year olds future into your own hands and destroy it by taking them out of education just because you can't handle the fact that they're talking in the same room as you. Do some extra work at home if you're that bothered by it, you can't blame anyone else if you don't do well; put in the effort out of lessons when there's no one there to disrupt you. And yes, that might seem unfair, but lets face it, what actually is entirely fair.


The only one destroying the 12 year old's education is the 12 year old itself.

So you're saying the education system has to tolerate bastards who disrupt in lesson, and the rest have to work at home?
In my opinion it's up to the parents to teach their child good manners. It's too bad most parents aren't good motivators.
Original post by im so academic
The only one destroying the 12 year old's education is the 12 year old itself.

So you're saying the education system has to tolerate bastards who disrupt in lesson, and the rest have to work at home?


12 year olds are just children, which is the whole problem. We have to tollerate them, teach them and find the right way of making them mature and REALISE they need to behave.
It's our responsibility as a society to educate the children... If they mis-behave, you teach them not to.
If a 2 year old toddler throws a tantrum at nursery, should they been thrown out and never allowed into education again? No. It's a learning process, and it continues throughout our lives.
A 12 year old is older, but has new issues to face, with starting puberty and possibly having home issues... It's up to the teachers to find the best way to help them become better people. You don't simply give up on them and kick them out.
Original post by Emaemmaemily

Original post by Emaemmaemily
12 year olds are just children, which is the whole problem. We have to tollerate them, teach them and find the right way of making them mature and REALISE they need to behave.
It's our responsibility as a society to educate the children... If they mis-behave, you teach them not to.
If a 2 year old toddler throws a tantrum at nursery, should they been thrown out and never allowed into education again? No. It's a learning process, and it continues throughout our lives.
A 12 year old is older, but has new issues to face, with starting puberty and possibly having home issues... It's up to the teachers to find the best way to help them become better people. You don't simply give up on them and kick them out.


That's an argument for extending primary school up to 13 years old.

No, I'm not taking that. There are many 12 year olds out there who have home issues (stop using the bloody family background card) and are able to keep quiet in class.

All one has to do is SHUT UP.

"If they mis-behave, you teach them not to" - trust me darling, they KNOW they are misbehaving.

No, age or "being a child" is not an excuse. One is at secondary school at the age of 12 - you're supposed to behave.

Are you saying it's acceptable for a 16 year old to disrupt the class, because legally that person is still classed as a minor?

2 year olds and 12 year olds cannot be compared.
Reply 307
Take them out of it.

They all hate school so much and think its such a waste of time, they''ll thank us for it.

I've seen some claiming the world would be better off without school, the same kind of idiots who think the world would be better off without poilice. Ie no understanding of how the world works at all.
Reply 308
When kids like this used to mess around in my English class, i was suicidal!
It heavily affected my grades and we were always behind everyone else as a class.
I honestly felt like shooting them -- theyre the kind of people who dont care about any one else but themselves as they felt the need to rebel at every instant.
(edited 12 years ago)
Teh cane. My aunt just started teaching in schools when they were phasing the cane out. She was a young idealist ,product of the liberal left teacher training colleges and she thought it ever so brutal. She remarked that she noticed certain teachers enjoyed doing it to certain pupils they disliked whereas favourites got away with things. Certain teachers she felt were sadists, and were know by staff and pupils as 'beaters'. She hated it, and had to leave a classroom when she witness'd a teacher beat a boy around the room on the head with a history book , this was for forgetting a book.Another boy got lost on a school trip and when he was found drunk by the Police the teacher actually knocked him out ,chinned him. The Police who saw it did and said nothing. so there was the cane and other kinds of beatings.

However since it was banned she has noticed huge,huge differences in behaviour and in her opinion it was safer both for pupils and staff when the cane was around. A necesscary evil in her view,but ought to be used more sparingly as some teachers got carried away. Never could come back now though what with the vermin who rule us, and arsey parents who think their little darlings would never do anything wrong.
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by im so academic
That's an argument for extending primary school up to 13 years old.

No, I'm not taking that. There are many 12 year olds out there who have home issues (stop using the bloody family background card) and are able to keep quiet in class.

All one has to do is SHUT UP.

"If they mis-behave, you teach them not to" - trust me darling, they KNOW they are misbehaving.

No, age or "being a child" is not an excuse. One is at secondary school at the age of 12 - you're supposed to behave.

Are you saying it's acceptable for a 16 year old to disrupt the class, because legally that person is still classed as a minor?

2 year olds and 12 year olds cannot be compared.


Home issues is a REASON, not an excuse... Knowing the background is important to solving the problem.
This is my point... You resolve the issue, not kick them out and solve nothing.
I'm not saying don't do anything. They should get help (which often they do), be removed from class if they refuse to stop so that everyone else can carry on learning... But they should be allowed back in when they agree to behave.
Also, it IS about teaching them to behave. They may know what they are doing is wrong, but they don't understand the implications (of not passing exams, not getting a good job, **** rest of life). We need to help them see this, and decide to change their ways.
That's what our school attempted to do... And while they didn't always go about it the right way, they succeeded in a lot of cases.
Simply expelling a 12 year old without making any attempts to help them change is stupid, and wrong. They are children that need guidance.
Perhaps school should be optional; those who don't want to be there can self study or learn a trade or mess up their own lives, but ultimately as long as they're not messing up other peoples education then fine. Most people who are at school do not really benefit from it intellectuallyperhaps it should be reserved for the elite or creme de la creme (If anyone sees where I am going) so that they can have more resources focused on them so that this country can produce better academics.
Original post by Emaemmaemily
Home issues is a REASON, not an excuse... Knowing the background is important to solving the problem.
This is my point... You resolve the issue, not kick them out and solve nothing.
I'm not saying don't do anything. They should get help (which often they do), be removed from class if they refuse to stop so that everyone else can carry on learning... But they should be allowed back in when they agree to behave.
Also, it IS about teaching them to behave. They may know what they are doing is wrong, but they don't understand the implications (of not passing exams, not getting a good job, **** rest of life). We need to help them see this, and decide to change their ways.
That's what our school attempted to do... And while they didn't always go about it the right way, they succeeded in a lot of cases.
Simply expelling a 12 year old without making any attempts to help them change is stupid, and wrong. They are children that need guidance.


If they don't understand the implications of academic failure then what business do they have in school?
Original post by PendulumBoB
If they don't understand the implications of academic failure then what business do they have in school?


It is society's responsibility to TEACH this to them. They aren't going to magically know it. Some parents are idiots and don't teach their children anything useful... That doesn't mean society should shun these children because it's not their own fault.
Schools should teach this to them, guide them, and help them become better people.
Of course, if this fails and the continue THEN consider expelling them, but it's the school's responsibility to try first. More often then not they'll make another useful member of society, intead of expelling a useless child and dooming them to staying that way.
Original post by Emaemmaemily
12 year olds are just children, which is the whole problem. We have to tollerate them, teach them and find the right way of making them mature and REALISE they need to behave.
It's our responsibility as a society to educate the children... If they mis-behave, you teach them not to.
If a 2 year old toddler throws a tantrum at nursery, should they been thrown out and never allowed into education again? No. It's a learning process, and it continues throughout our lives.
A 12 year old is older, but has new issues to face, with starting puberty and possibly having home issues... It's up to the teachers to find the best way to help them become better people. You don't simply give up on them and kick them out.


You are absolutely right.

People find it hard to understand that kids are disruptive for a large number of reasons. It's not simply a case of not wanting to learn. Maybe this is true in the case of a 15 year old with GCSEs coming up, they're still being disruptive, they don't care about their exams , they think it's all a big laugh - these are people who aren't bothered about their education. These are the people who if you kicked them out it wouldn't make a difference to their lives.

A 12 year old on the other hand probably hasn't realised the relative importance of their education. A few months before GCSE is when people start to realise that what they're going to do matters, not in year 8. These kids are disruptive because people find it funny. It's important to disclipline them and teach them rather than to give up on them. I know people who a couple of years ago were really disruptive, class clowns, always in trouble... now they're doing their A-levels and planning to go to university. It's not fair just to give up on people after one offence.

I'm in sixth form and no-one is disruptive now. There's no point, we're all there by choice, we're there to get A-levels for whatever reason. If someone is disruptive, the teacher just tells them to get out, it's their education they are jeapordising, and we have realised this by the age of 17.
The slipper.
Original post by Emaemmaemily
Home issues is a REASON, not an excuse...


It is an excuse. Why should my education be disrupted because there are people within my class who cannot shut up and this is due to their "home issues"?

Take them out of the classroom then.

Knowing the background is important to solving the problem.


And if they don't co-operate?

This is my point... You resolve the issue, not kick them out and solve nothing.


And if they don't co-operate?

I'm not saying don't do anything. They should get help (which often they do), be removed from class if they refuse to stop so that everyone else can carry on learning... But they should be allowed back in when they agree to behave.


What if they don't want the help?
What if they misbehave again when they are allowed back in?

Also, it IS about teaching them to behave.


But if they don't co-operate?

They may know what they are doing is wrong, but they don't understand the implications (of not passing exams, not getting a good job, **** rest of life). We need to help them see this, and decide to change their ways.


What if they don't change their ways?
What if they refuse to co-operate?

That's what our school attempted to do... And while they didn't always go about it the right way, they succeeded in a lot of cases.


Yes, but think about how their presence in the classroom has impacted on other people's education.

Simply expelling a 12 year old without making any attempts to help them change is stupid, and wrong. They are children that need guidance.


What if they don't want the guidance?
What if they refuse to co-operate?

OK, here's a situation for you: a 12 year old brings a knife into a classroom and threatens to stab other students?

And don't say things like that don't happen.

"An 11 year old boy had a knife at school and threatened two pupils. The head teacher permanently excluded him but he was reinstated by an independent appeals panel".

How in God's name could you suggest the boy did not know what he was doing?
Are you seriously going to use the "family background card" again?
Don't tell me you agree with the decision of the independent appeals panel.

Trust me, no kid who brings a knife to school should EVER go near a school again. I don't care if he has changed or not, *******s.

It's like paedophiles - would you like an ex-paedophile to teach your children?

And yes, they are comparable. That bastard kid knew FULL WELL what he was doing.

It's people like you who are ruining the education system in this country.
Original post by Emaemmaemily
It is society's responsibility to TEACH this to them. They aren't going to magically know it. Some parents are idiots and don't teach their children anything useful... That doesn't mean society should shun these children because it's not their own fault.


What if they don't listen to "society teaching them"?

If they don't listen to their teachers, who's to say they'll listen to that?

Schools should teach this to them, guide them, and help them become better people.
Of course, if this fails and the continue THEN consider expelling them, but it's the school's responsibility to try first. More often then not they'll make another useful member of society, intead of expelling a useless child and dooming them to staying that way.


They do.

Like I said yesterday, it's HARD to expell a pupil and schools are RELUNCTANT to do it (due to financial reasons).

You think schools don't try? Precious funding lost, oh and their reputation is in stake.

Sometimes the best option IS expulsion.
Reply 318
Perhaps the solution is segregation? Not necessarily in the negative sense either, give the pupils who want to learn more time with teachers, and segregate individuals who do not want to learn elsewhere, kicking out of school should only be the last resort anyway.

The first point of segregation should be a return to vocational subjects, at the time a child picks their GCSE subjects, children should have the option if they so wish to go to a vocational college, not only will this help kids who prefer to work with their hands and are not suited to academia find a good, well paid job in the future [as Skilled workers are a rapidly declining luxury nowadays] but also contribute more to society i as opposed to ending up with crap GCSEs at the end of the current system. These vocational colleges would teach basic English language and Math, with any further relevant subjects being taught within the course itself. This is a win-win situation, some pupils are disruptive because they are simply not suited to academia, and are bored because they simply do not want to comprehend it, this then impacts learning of those who ARE suited to academia, and do comprehend what is going on. Splitting these two groups would allow the kids who are much better with their hands, and more suited to vocational things to find a more meaningful education and thus become less disruptive, whilst allowing kids who do like to work with Academia to have an overall more positive experience.
There is a reason why grammar schools do so well, the selection process does not necessarily weed out disruptive pupils, but it does weed out quite a few and so the overall environment is more positive.
Original post by PendulumBoB
Perhaps school should be optional; those who don't want to be there can self study or learn a trade or mess up their own lives, but ultimately as long as they're not messing up other peoples education then fine. Most people who are at school do not really benefit from it intellectuallyperhaps it should be reserved for the elite or creme de la creme (If anyone sees where I am going) so that they can have more resources focused on them so that this country can produce better academics.


Tell ANY 8 year old that they don't have to go to school any more if they don't want, see what they say. Making school optional is a ridiculous idea. Education IS optional after the age of 16, people are old enough to make life decisions by that age. Lots of kids have parents who don't care because they didn't do well at school. Believe it or not, they are very few children who have their life set out, and are eager to learn and get qualifications and get a good job. Children are more interested in making their friends laugh. If school was optional from a young age, no-one would go.

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