When results of the 31st Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll on attitudes toward public schools were released in August, discipline was again the country's top educational concern, as it has been in all but one of the last 14 surveys. Of the 1,103 adults polled, 18 percent said "lack of discipline" was the biggest problem facing public schools. Fighting, violence, and gangs claimed second place (11 percent), while issues like lack of financing (9percent), crowded schools (8 percent), and low standards (2 percent) fell into the background. Less than a quarter of those polled thought schools were "very safe and orderly."

The topic of discipline cuts a wide swath across today's most important educational debates. Conservatives and liberals (and all those in between) may argue about policies and methods, but everyone seems to agree that better discipline is needed in our schools. Tragedies like those in Littleton, CO, make the issue seem more urgent. Teachers' unions ask for stricter disciplinary codes. President Bill Clinton, in his 1999 State of the Union Speech, urges "all states and school districts (to) adopt and implement sensible discipline policies." Advocates of charter schools and character education promise programs with better discipline and, as a result, better learning.