Keeping a good disciplinary climate is a key to student learning and well-being. Disciplinary norms need to be clearly established and applied fairly and consistently. Yet, strictness alone cannot optimise student outcomes: students need support and understanding.

On the basis of research among the Portuguese in a Massachusetts district, the author finds that two features of the culture of the school in the United States contrast sharply with the corresponding features in Portugal: the degree of "social freedom" and "pedagogical freedom" allowed students. The behavioral parameters of…

Describes a Wellesley (Massachusetts) study concerning why parents are moving their children from public to private schools. The reasons--school closings, discipline problems, unresponsive schools, and lack of teacher and administrator concern for the individual child--point to the importance of the principal. (Author/JM)