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Cracking Down
On Cussing
Rachel Gottlieb, Hartford Courant, November 30, 2005
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There will be no
more f-words, b-words or s-words spoken, yelled or hissed in
classes at Hartford Public or Bulkeley high schools.
Not for free, anyway.
Students who dare utter words of the sort are paying dearly for
their vocabulary. In a bid to rein in out-of-control language -
and behavior - city police officers assigned to the schools have
started doling out tickets with $103 fines. They have charged
about two dozen students over the past few weeks with creating a
public disturbance, an infraction.
"We're sending a message to the parents and to the teachers,"
said Sandy Cruz-Serrano, senior adviser to Superintendent of
Schools Robert Henry. "We are trying to bring back order to the
schools."
The target of the campaign, a joint effort by school officials
and police, is not the casual curser. Context and usage are
everything. Students who swear while defying a teacher or school
officials are the ones landing tickets.
Keila Ayala, 17, a sophomore at Hartford Public, got one of
those tickets when - while handcuffed for taking a swing at an
officer - bellowed the f-word in the officer's face. She is
surprisingly supportive of the new policy.
"I have anger management problems," Ayala said in a quiet
moment, admitting the prospect of expensive tickets might help
her get a grip on her mouth.
"It'll stop me from swearing," she said. "Well, it won't stop me
from swearing, but I won't cuss at the teachers. The one who is
going to pay is my mom. That's why I don't want to keep getting
tickets because I don't want to get in trouble with her."
Parents are on the hook, too. If the youngsters don't put up the
cash, the parents have to pay - or perhaps find the time to
accompany their youngsters to court. Failing to respond to the
tickets could lead to more serious charges.
"Our heads are spinning with that," said Sam Saylor, president
of the district Parent Teacher Organization. "The kids are
really indecent with their swearing and they're swearing at
teachers. This is their way of curtailing it - making the
parents pay."
While the idea of $103 fines bothers some parents and students,
officials say it seems to be working. In the weeks since
officers wrote up 15 to 20 tickets at Hartford Public and
another eight or so at Bulkeley, they said a rare hush has
settled into the hallways and classrooms.
With his bright red ticket book in hand, Officer Roger Pearl
finds voices lowering around him like a wave as he strolls
Bulkeley's hallways between classes.
Pearl also investigates complaints lodged by teachers and, he
said, the students typically admit what they've done - or said.
"I don't like writing tickets," Pearl said, though he marvels at
their effect. "Before, the kids were swearing all the time. It
went from many incidents to almost nothing. It's quiet in the
halls."
In a letter to teachers explaining the tickets, Bulkeley
Principal Miriam Morales-Taylor expressed a clear note of
exasperation, saying she was struck by the number of "major
disciplinary offenses" that teachers wrote up for students who
used foul language with the staff.
"Ticketing students for using profanity is a last-resort avenue
to send a clear and strong message that foul language is
unacceptable and to modify behavior," Morales-Taylor wrote.
The program, participation in which is at the discretion of
school principals, is not being used at Weaver High School.
At Hartford High, freshman Glynn Hawes said tickets could be
just enough for his pals to learn new ways.
"When you curse, it's a habit," Hawes said. "I have friends who
are cursaholics. We don't want to pay for it - especially at
Christmas-time. Parents will get involved. Kids here, they don't
have jobs and the tickets are expensive."
But fellow freshman Aaron Scott Pearson II is more skeptical.
Lacing his language with curses to punctuate his point, Pearson
declared: "I curse all day."
And what about teachers and coaches who curse - will they get
tickets, too? Pearson asked.
George Sugai, who teaches behavior management and school
discipline classes at the Neag School of Education at the
University of Connecticut, is skeptical of the potential for
long-term effects.
"Research says that punishing kids doesn't teach them the right
way to act," he said.
Evidence of that, he said, is the way kids return to their bad
behavior when they are released from detention centers. "Are
they learning social skills to get along with teachers and with
each other?" Sugai asked.
But Cathy Carpino, president of the teachers' union, welcomes
the new civility for as long as it lasts.
"They've tried suspensions and detentions. It hasn't worked,"
she said.
Teachers, she said, are reporting a more positive environment.
"They're able to do more teaching and less discipline. ...
Anything that improves the teaching and learning environment, I
support."
At Hartford Public Tuesday, sophomore Eric King was full of
bravado as he and his classmates pondered the merits of tickets
for cursing.
"They gave me three of those, but I'm not paying any of them,"
the 16-year-old declared, to the delight of his supportive
classmates, who said in a chorus that they would not be deprived
of their right to use the full spectrum of the English language.
Out in the hall, King modified his story - and his attitude.
Turns out he hasn't actually gotten one of those tickets yet,
though he said a teacher threatened to refer him to the school
police officer for swearing in class.
King also conceded that he's worried enough about fines piling
up that he's decided the once unthinkable:
"It'll stop me from cursing in school. I'll keep it down. It's
not worth it."
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