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Students who have been suspended may develop the belief that they are worth less than other students. They gain a reputation as troublemaking, disobedient kids who will never amount to anything. They develop low self-esteem and often become depressed or angry. But instead of trying to help them, the school system often punishes them, adding to the resentment they already feel. They also miss out on the benefits of participating in class and interacting with peers, which teaches essential communication skills. They grow to hate the education system, which vastly increases high school dropout rates. One study revealed that over two-thirds of a group of imprisoned high school freshmen in Baltimore had been suspended in middle school. Suspension more than triples the chance of dropping out of high school.
Admittedly, at times the only choice is to remove a student from the classroom. But this can be done without suspension. Other effective disciplinary methods include phone calls to parents, sending students to another classroom, or detention before or after school. A better alternative to sending students home is in-school suspension, where they stay in the principal's office during the suspension period and receive supervision to ensure they complete class assignments and don't fall