Per this story- That’s quite a lineup.
All children need to learn is a firm “that is not acceptable.” Anything more is obviously child abuse. :rolleyes:
Huh. When I went to school, if a kid didn’t turn in his homework, generally he had to stay in the classroom and finish it during recess. Of course when I went to school, they still used corporal punishment.
I wonder what the mother in the story considered appropriate punishment? And why she didn’t notify the school ahead of time that she objected to this punishment? She clearly knew about it. I think that if she really had objections, she should have stated them BEFORE her son was punished…and she should have worked out what punishments she found acceptable for the school to administer.
I feel sorry for her kid. One of these days he’s gonna get a speeding ticket, and find out that his mom can’t dictate just what penalty he has to suffer, and he’s gonna get a big dose of reality smacking him in the face.
This. I’m not even that old, and can’t believe this has even changed. How do teachers even control their students these days? They can’t even have “time out” without parents all up in arms.
Yes, it’s an acceptable and appropriate punishment for not doing homework. The mother should be forced to stand in front of a judge for 20 minutes and explain why she deliberately kept her child out of school. She is a bad parent and her children will suffer for it by doing poorly in school.
No, it is not acceptable.
Making the child miss recess to stay inside and finish the homework is absolutely acceptable. The child has to face the consequences of not doing his work on time. But having the children line up so everyone in the school can see who’s being punished today? No. It invites ridicule and potentially outright bullying. And, you’ll notice, it doesn’t get the homework assignment done, either.
Facing the wall is okay for a cooling-down period, either when a child is out-of-control and needs to calm down, or when a situation gets so out-of-control that the adult in charge needs a minute to think and reflect. This is clearly not the case here.
My main problem with it is recess is short enough already. And, in a lot of schools, it’s the only exercise the kids get most days.
When I was going to school, I had both the stay inside and finish version, and the go outside and stand around (though we got to watch the kids, which made us want to get out more). Very rarely, though, did this take up the entire recess. Play is important for kids. We give out a ton of homework, so they don’t have time to play at home, and give them such little recess, or even take it away if they dared play at home. And we wonder why kids act out so much now.
(Oh, and later in life you learn that not turning in every homework assignment can be an effective way to have a life outside of school, and still maintain a healthy grade average. It isn’t the horrible thing it’s made out to be in grade school. And, in college, you can even (Gosh) skip classes and still maintain at least a 3.0)
If there is no punishment for failing to hand in work on time, how will the child learn that there are consequences to those actions? Teachers are no longer allowed to discipline children like they used to because the kids are all too aware of their “rights”, sadly they fail to understand or accept that such rights entail responsibilities as well. If they don’t fulfill their responsibilities, they should expect some of those rights to be withdrawn for a while.
When I was in school you either had to stay in school (or after school) in detention to finish your work, or you had to go to the main assembly hall and stand under the clock (it was right outside the staff room entrance) so all the kids going out to the playground could see you and they all knew why you were there.
I can’t see what’s wrong with that, it will certainly teach the brats to do their work on time!
It’s acceptable (non-abusive) but not very productive. Stupid, actually. The kids should have been made to finish their homework and maybe had another assignment tacked on or something.
Heck, 15 minutes standing against a wall is not going to affect anyone’s health by denying them a few minutes of exercise! It’s not like kids do intensive cardio in those 15 minutes…they usually (at age 12) stand around talking or maybe the boys shove one another around. And as for the humiliation factor…it’s mild, it’s temporary and it can be effective. The other kids are NOT going to be spending the rest of the schoolyear taunting a kid for having to stand by the wall one day, but the standee is going to think twice about blowing off an assignment. Giving them another assignment on top just seems counterproductive…getting them further behind. And since there was a large group of them, the humiliation factor is practically down to zero…misery loves company.
I still remember very clearly the few times I was publicly disciplined in school. I was a “Good Kid” so each of my transgressions stands out in my memory, and I can find no fault with my teachers for anything they did to me or others to keep control or get us back on track. It sounds like this mom is a helicopter mom who thinks her precious snowflake shouldn’t be exposed to a germy wall. There’s a lot more humiliation involved when your mom makes a public scene about something like this…now THIS is what the other kids will taunt him about for the next 6 years!
The only thing this will promote is the kid will likely get into the habit of just doing his homework at school. Correct me if I’m wrong, but homework is meant to be done at home and not st the kid’s leisure screwing up the teachers schedule.
“No, Johny, the world does not revolve around you. Do your freak’n homework!”
Actually, all of the above would be perfectly acceptable.
I thought the punishment for not doing your homework was getting a bad grade. This doesn’t seem productive at all and I’m actually surprised that the teachers are on board with this. It seems like they’d want the kids to have the opportunity to blow off a little steam during the day. I bet the afternoons suck for those teachers.
I agree with the other posters who said that if you’re going to take their recess away, they should at least use that time to do that homework.
It’s not always possible to keep a kid in the classroom during recess if supervision is unavailable. Teachers often have other duties during recess and lunch (like supervising their classes during recess and lunch).
We also live in an age where it is discouraged for a teacher to be alone in a classroom (or anywhere else) with a student.
There’s nothing wrong with making the little brats stand against the wall and miss a recess. Punishment is supposed to be unpleasant.
When I was a teacher, I was a hardass for discipline. I don’t think schools are nearly tough enough (because they’re afraid of the parents). When I was really young, in Louisiana, I went to schools that still had corporal punishment. It worked.
IMHO a appropriate action is to have them do their homework during recess/study hall and join in recess once completed - if there was no reason for them not doing their homework. There is no reason for strictly punitive punishment, 20 minutes of recess from sitting at a desk all day is punishment enough.
The thing that struck me from the article is that the mom thinks she and her Sweet Snookums should be able to choose an alternative punishment. If you choose your punishment, how is it punishment?! The next time I’m late with the rent, I’m going to tell the landlord instead of paying the $25 fee, Johnny Depp should rub my back and feed me Godiva chocolates while John Legend serenades us on the piano. That’ll show me.
We had to do this all the time in elementary school (late 80s). I fucking hated it, but at the same time neither I nor parents thought it was that a big deal. It was just another accepted form of punishment.
If you’re held inside, everyone knows you’re not at recess. Children – even younger than 12! – have eyes. See the whole class troops out… and you don’t. Cover blown!
And holding inside isn’t practical these days - as said already teachers have other responsibilities and are also cautioned against being alone with a student.
Really? I wasn’t in school all that long ago and there were lots of times I was alone with a teacher. Like if I needed extra help or wanted the teacher to read over an essay or something I had written.
Not anymore.
It’s not so much a formal policy, as that teachers (or anyone who works with kids) now have to be completely paranoid about making sure they’re never in a position to be falsely accused – especially males.