EBN- The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warned in its latest recommendations, published online in early October of this year, of the extremely negative psychological effects of school suspension.
It stressed that this punishment may have negative consequences that can accompany the child throughout his life, because it represents a type of trauma for the child that exposes him to various psychological problems, such as feelings of worthlessness and low self-image, which leads to failure, whether academically or in practical life.
New recommendations
These are the first recommendations made by the academy since 2013 regarding suspension or expulsion. They came during its annual meeting, which addresses all aspects of children’s health at the physical and psychological levels. The recommendations were drafted by a group of elite psychologists and education experts, and will be published later in the journal Pediatrics.
Experts said they were well aware that expulsion or suspension had always been imposed on students who committed serious offenses that could threaten public order, such as carrying knives or firearms or using drugs and prescription drugs at school. But contrary to expectations, these sanctions did not reduce such behavior in schools. On the contrary, the percentage of students with unruly behavior increased from 3.7 percent to 6.9 percent of the student population between 1973 and 2006.
Mental health decline
In contrast, the recommendations stated that these sanctions led to a decline in the mental health of students who were deprived for many reasons, the most important of which was their sense of social shame and exposure to stigma and bullying, which reduced the chances of forming new good friendships, in addition to feelings of guilt and failure in their studies. All of these factors led to students returning to the same aggressive and violent behavior; which puts students in a vicious cycle that makes them vulnerable to being deprived of education again, as it was proven that 28 percent of students who were deprived of school in the academic year from 2020 to 2021 were deprived again.
In the academic year (2020-2021), the rate of student shooting incidents at their classmates in schools was 12 times the rate of the same shooting incidents at the beginning of the millennium more than twenty years ago, despite the penalties of suspension and expulsion. This shows that these measures did not address the problem. Therefore, these penalties must be changed and replaced with penalties that protect students from these behaviors by conducting a psychological survey of the groups most vulnerable to practicing violence and treating them appropriately as a form of prevention.
The Academy pointed out the need to teach children to reject violence and abandon bad behavior at the very early stages of their lives in all gatherings, whether in schools primarily, clubs, or even social and medical care homes, while educating teachers and those responsible for dealing with children about the psychological risks of the policy of deprivation or exclusion. It advised the need to deal wisely with the child and refer him to a trained psychologist to deal with him regardless of the extent of his bad behavior.
Checking the causes of bad behavior
The recommendations stressed that the impact of the deprivation penalty is more severe and harsh on children who may be subjected to discrimination and bullying for one reason or another, such as children with dark skin or children of ethnic minorities, especially if there is a clear difference in appearance and behavior, as well as children who suffer from clear defects in physical composition, whether in terms of weight or height, or the presence of a certain disability, and some skin diseases that cause deformities such as vitiligo, as well as children who suffer from a disorder in gender identity.
The researchers said that students during the period of deprivation, due to their lack of commitment to going to school and being at home without schoolwork, with increased free time and in the presence of bad company, often engage in immoral behaviors and violations, such as taking drugs and narcotic nerve medications, engaging in multiple fights, carrying weapons and committing crimes; which puts them under the law and leads to their imprisonment and the loss of their future. The decision to deprive is a prelude to these children entering prison (the school to prison pipeline); therefore, caution must be exercised with these groups in particular.
