Share this: Earning students’ trust takes take time, effort and an advanced degree of training to learn what works best; principal Chris Graves argues that punitive discipline can be harmful. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images The Hechinger Report is a national nonprofit newsroom that reports on one topic: education. Sign up for our weekly newsletters to get stories like this delivered directly to your inbox. Over the course of my career as a school administrator and teacher, I’ve worked with students from kindergarten through high school, and unfortunately have seen too many harshly punished for their behaviors. I’ve seen students berated, suspended and arrested for behaviors that could have been either prevented or addressed with more care and empathy. All too often, student discipline is punitive versus instructive.