Punitive and Unsympathetic: Mathews is SOOOO Wrong on KIPP
Jay Mathews is an education talking head, columnist, blogger and huge cheerleader for KIPP schools. KIPP is under fire for their attrition again— this time due to discipline in D.C. Mathews’ explanation and justification for KIPPactions were punitive and unsympathetic. Jay Mathews is clearly not an expert on this issue, so I asked someone who actually knows something about school discipline to respond. Here are Heather Cole’s thoughts. —Julian
A few days ago, The University of Texas at Austin hosted a special conference on trauma-informed care and at-risk youth. The purpose of the conference was to talk about different approaches to addressing the needs of young people in various systems including schools, home, foster care and treatment facilities. The keynote speaker was Dr. Bruce Perry, a trauma expert and the founder and director of the Child Trauma Academy. Dr. Perry spoke at length about the inability of society to meet the developmental needs of our children. He made several critical comments about the ways our schools are organized and the failure of teachers and administrators to identify the cognitive and emotional developmental stage of students. This lack of awareness and knowledge feeds into their inability to understand that for many children, the demands being placed upon them are simply not achievable. This does not mean that with assistance, demands, both academic and behavioral can be met. However, when