T he system of discipline that’s worked more or less since men and women first formed societies – in which a punishment follows a crime, maybe with a warning in between if you’re lucky – helps humanity coexist when the Golden Rule isn’t convincing enough. In grade school, we all learned about the civilizational bedrock into which minions of the Mesopotamian emperor Hammurabi chiseled his famous code. It’s a good first lesson for sixth-grade world history
because, apart from the additions of Christian mercy and enlightened amendments, its basic logic lives on. Or it did, until recently. At schools across the country, the old tried- and-true system of deterring misbehavior by punishing it with a predictable and unfavorable consequence hasn’t held up. Four years ago, a “Dear Colleague Letter”
CLICK HERE TO READ THEWEB VERSION
American Consequences 65
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker