Should Public Schools Have a Mini-Jail for Bad Students?

In many states throughout the U.S., teachers and school administers will lock students in small spaces called “scream rooms” to discipline them for misbehaving during the school day. Students of all ages can be placed there for hours at a time. Schools also use “restraint” techniques, which means strapping a child into a chair.

And just how common is this practice?

According to data collected by the US Department of Education, one school used seclusion 559 times and restraint 177 times in 2011. A report noted that across America, while students with disabilities make up just 12 percent of all students, they represent 75 percent of those physically restrained and 58 percent of those secluded.