Lee Cataluna: Old schools weeded out bad behavior

Don’t schools make kids pull weeds anymore?

First, a report from the American Civil Liberties Union finds that Hawaii public school kids miss more school days because of disciplinary suspension than kids in other states, an average of 43 suspended days for every 100 students compared with the national average of 23 days.

Then there’s the superintendent of schools bending to parent freak-outs and banning Roundup from every public school campus in the state because … well, because some believe the herbicide could cause cancer, and those prone to worry aren’t likely to believe the Environmental Protection Agency’s declaration that it doesn’t. Better safe than sorry. Better safe than having parents holding signs and starting online petitions.

So this coming school year looks to be one of weedy playgrounds and, hopefully, rethinking punishments for kids who act up.

And that there is a ripe combination.

In Hawaii’s not-too-distant past, back when school lunch cost a quarter and Pee-Chee folders held purple-ink mimeographed worksheets, students were made to pull weeds on the school grounds as a punishment for bad behavior.

Ask around. Start a conversation at the McDonald’s breakfast coffee club or at the lunchroom break table. Ask who had to pull weeds in school because they got busted for something.

The stories that will flow from that question will be epic tales of struggle and triumph, of defeat and redemption, of cunning and of character. Kids who were made to pull weeds grow up to be adults who are proud that they did.

They smile when they tell their story: “Oh, the school yard was so hot. Wow, the weed bucket (or, often, the coffee can) seemed impossible to fill. Yeah, and I thought I was pau, but then the vice principal made me go back and do it over because I had only pulled up the tops and left the roots still stuck deep in the hard ground. Hoo boy. Those were the days.”

And then they laugh. And maybe their eyes mist a bit because that punishment has somehow become a fond memory of when things made more sense.

Some people recall having to scrape gum off sidewalks or from beneath desks as punishment, but that wouldn’t fly in 2019 sensibilities. The gum could be contaminated by all manner of germs; the scraper could be used as a weapon. Even a weed puller, like the pronged, wood-handled implement custodial workers used to loan detention students so they could dig out hilahila by the roots near the chain-link fence probably wouldn’t be considered safe.

Sometimes kids get suspended because they’re not considered safe.

It’s always easier to ban something than it is to fix a problem. Bans are fast and complete and easy to monitor. Weeding out undesirable behavior and planting the seeds for better takes much more effort.

But ask the folks who had to pull weeds for their transgressions. They hated it then but they’re proud now, and they, almost to a person, will tell you they got something valuable out of the experience.