I have been reading a lot of social media posts lately from parents who insist that their child is not getting a fair hearing. The infractions vary. The frequency varies. Ages run from Pre-K through high school. But in the end, the gist of these posts is the same: “It wasn’t such a big deal.”

Here is a missing truth: “Death by a thousand paper cuts” doesn’t seem as lethal when viewed early on in the process. When a destructive outcome is caused by many small, seemingly minor problems over time, the net effect of those cuts hides easily from outside eyes. Math scores may tumble, but multiple causes can explain that fall. Minor disciplinary infractions become submerged in questions of curriculum, teaching methods and areas for remediation.

But meanwhile those thousand cuts are occurring, every day in some classrooms. I am about to happily throw away a pack of ancient disciplinary referrals I once stashed in a basement box that’s been hiding in a corner. I leafed through them. Some were funny, most were repetitious, a few were scary. Only a small number of students were represented.

However, I thought I might create a synopsis from those referrals. The phrases I read explain so much about how education can fail large groups of students as a result of mostly minor behaviors from a small number of students within a classroom. Few of these disciplinary referrals represent “big deals” — but every single one of them became a thief of time, at best only for the student who skipped first period. But what about the student who took seven minutes to get to third period next door, while talking to a friend? Did the friend go on to class or go hide in the restroom? How much academic review slipped away for two friends? The whole classroom was distracted when the student ambled into class, not particularly quietly. That’s only a minute or two for twenty-some students, but minutes add up. Those twenty-some minutes can never be recovered.

Let’s just jot down details from other forms:

Two referrals for wandering halls.

Nine referrals for tardiness, most below 10 minutes.

Three referrals for talking during class.

One for did not sit in his own seat and refused to move.

(I want to flag the last line. This is exactly the sort of event that parents sometimes want to explain away and excuse. My problem is that the whole seating chart can fall apart if I fold and let my student take any seat available. This is like the one person out in the bathroom at a time rule. If I let this rule go, I can have students socializing in the bathroom along with endless attempts to go to the bathroom throughout the hour. Some students really do go every hour if allowed, and often essentially for social purposes.)

Two referrals for profanity.

One for repeatedly randomly cutting paper clips with scissors and distracting students.

One for randomly, repeatedly pushing books off a desk and onto the floor.

One for a phone that was not supposed to be in class and had not been silenced.

One for putting a large quantity of hand sanitizer on another student’s chair while that student was passing out papers.

One for deliberately scratching up an electronic device with a pushpin. (No idea how that subsequent “restitution” requirement went.)

On the more complicated side: Multiple referrals when Student Two took Student One’s seat. Student Two refused to relinquish seat. Student One started cursing at Student Two.Student Two verbally threatened Student One with a (fortunately nonexistent) gun. Both took fighting stances. Help fortunately arrived before the fight started.

On the serious side: One referral that resulted in a suspension when the student claimed to have a gun in his jacket, then his backpack. Student picked up a classroom object and said “This is a weapon.” Student was taken out of class. The next day student returned to class with a backpack, showing it off as if he might have a weapon, trying to be deliberately intimidating. Student received a 3-day suspension.

Eduhonesty: One thousand cuts later, how much learning was lost? The amount is impossible to quantify — but sometimes far from insignificant.