This is a question that I often ask my students, especially those who have ongoing school problems, poor grades, violent attitudes, antisocial behavior, and frequent conflicts with their teachers, peers, and even parents.

The sad reality is that childhood ends very quickly; Before we think about it, we stop being children, we become teenagers and soon adults; with a family to maintain and the responsibility to guide and educate our own children.

Statistics show that when a student has academic and behavioral problems he hardly ever finishes his studies. On the contrary, he is rejected from the educational system even before completing High School.

Many problem students start being punished with “in-school suspension”, then sent to a problem student’s school like Lara Academy, and finally a juvenile detention center. This is the most direct route to jail. The vast majority of young people who are incarcerated are of black or Latino origin, and in their background, they have been conflicted students. Many parents and teachers forget that when a child behaves badly, it is because they feel bad. If we had this in mind, perhaps we could be more empathetic and understanding when a child with serious and recurring behavioral problems is in our family or in our classroom.

Many studies confirm that giving a student a suspension does more harm than good, accentuates behavioral problems, and leads to academic failure. Apparently, our government does not have the money to guide and rescue children who have problems, but to keep them in prison institutions. They even speak of a national trend and call it: “School-to-prison pipeline,” in which at the national level, students who are expelled from public schools fall directly into the criminal justice system.

How many of our students seek to bypass classes and their academic responsibilities, starting by skipping classes, thinking that punishing with “in-school suspension” is like having a vacation, a reward for their indiscipline and misbehavior. They do not realize the serious problem that their rebel, violent and antisocial behavior in school, in a few years will no longer be considered a prank, if not a crime. The first steps of a direct path to a correctional facility and then jail.
You can change, your future depends on what you do today. You have to make a conscious decision to change for the wellbeing of you and your family.  If in the past, you have made these mistakes, leave them behind, don’t let them recur. Only you can change your life, no one else can do it for you. If you really want to achieve what you dreamed, start today.

“Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error”        

Marcus Tullius Cicero