by Carl Muhammad
—Guest Columnist—

According to annual Gallup polls during most of its 22-year history, the public’s attitude toward the public school system has identified "lack of discipline" as the most serious problem facing the U.S. education system. The statistics are alarming:

• Each month approximately three percent of teachers and students in Urban schools and one to two percent of teachers and students in rural schools are robbed or physically attacked.

• Nearly 17,000 students per month experience physical injuries serious enough to require medical attention.

• Nearly two million suspensions occur each year from problems of drug use, cheating, insubordination, truancy and intimidation, which contribute to countless school and classroom disruptions.

In addition to these major discipline issues, there are a host of minor kinds of behavioral issues plaguing America’s educational system. These minor disciplinary problems disrupt the flow of classroom activities, interfere with learning and have a devastating effect that causes almost one-half of all classroom time spent on activities other than instruction and discipline problems.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote in his book "The Fall of America" that one of the plagues Allah (God) would send on America is the destruction of her educational system. He went on to say, "The American people actually have come to the point where they hate their own educational system. This means that they are now hating and destroying their civilization because it is education that civilizes people."

Educational scholars offer practical solutions:

• Develop a committed staff of teachers to establish and maintain appropriate student behavior as an essential precondition of learning.

• Set high behavioral expectations.

• Develop clear and broad-based rules, sanctions and procedures with input from students that are clearly specified and are made known to everyone in the school.

• Create a warm school climate characterized by a concern for students as individuals.

• Have a visible, supportive principal that goes beyond the "official" duties such as assemblies or when enforcing school discipline. Principals of well-disciplined schools tend to be visible in the hallways and classrooms, talk informally with teachers and students, speak to them by name and express interest in their activities.

• Have a principal who will take responsibility for serious discipline infractions but they hold teachers responsible for handling routine classroom discipline problems. They assist teachers to improve their classroom management and discipline skills by arranging for staff development activities as needed.

• Establish close ties with the community. Researchers have generally found that well-disciplined schools are those that have a high level of communication and partnership with communities they serve. These schools have a higher than average incidence of parent involvement in school functions and communities are kept informed of school goals and activities.

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, based on the teaching of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, offers the divine solutions that go to the root of the problem of school discipline.

• Create a God-centered educational system that recognizes the true author of all knowledge and disciplines.

• Teach the knowledge of self to all students.

• Properly train and pay teachers based on their value to the society.

• Remove all false ideas and concepts from America’s educational system, particularly those that advocate White supremacy and Black inferiority.