A question in regards to school discipline

I just learnt this in school:
In the old days, teachers have the authority to hit students with a stick.
I was like :f6: OMG! That's so freaking scary. And this history teacher I had who taught us this had this scary expression which freaked me out more.
I'm glad that they abolished this discipline a long time ago.

Anyway the point is, I just moved into High School and the disciplinary system there is 10 times more harsh that my primary school.
I want to hear others thoughts on these questions that I'm gonna ask.

1. What do you think of teachers hitting students?

2. Are 30min detentions considered a waste of time?

back in my day teachers could hit students. i am not sure if it is a good idea, probably not. however parents deff must learn to control their children. an 30 mins detention are a waste. children should learn discipline at home and school only enforce it not have the parents relegate all the work to teachers and then ask their kids not to be hit or yelled at or whatever.

1. If a teacher hits me, I would thrash the crap out of them (not joking here). Teachers beating students to me is nothing more than a random thug who tries to pick a fight with me. If I go to court for that then I would charge that teacher for assault (given that they attacked first) and I would state I'm acting in my own defense.

2. In most cases yes. Lets face it here, students dont learn ANYTHING from detention. It doesn't work and it never had. Furthermore, detentions are a major waste of time especially if you have a music lesson right after school.
Lunchtime detentions aren't as bad as after school detentions but if you DO happen to have a meeting or a lunchtime class (like I did in yr 12) then yes, it's a big waste of time.

I remember when I was younger. Twice I got lunch time detentions. I was made to write out the school rules over and over and over and over again. Most of it wasn't even relevant to what I had done.

First time was for not going off playground as soon as the bell rung to tell kids to get back into class, and then a teacher nagged at me to hurry up, and I hated that teacher so I refused to move.

Second was because my classmates had been putting their hands on the over head projector thing to see what silly shadows they could make casted onto the whiteboard. When they all stopped, I decided to try it, because I hadn't gotten a chance to. Teacher yelled at me and gave me dentention for it. Jerk that he was.

But yeah, writing out all the school rules, where a lot of them I did follow? It was so pointless. And they yelled at you if you stopped writing for a second o_o WASTE OF TIME!!!!

I don't learn anything from detention except to put up chairs and clean a classroom and be quiet.

Teachers were allowed to hit students to discipline them back then. They can't do that now, and I wouldn't want teachers trying to discipline with force.

BUT, today a teacher CAN hit a student if that student is endangering the safety and well being of the other students.

As for detention, mine were an hour long. I got them almost every day for being late to school. Obviously I learned nothing. Glad my senior year teacher let us sneak in... I did get a chance to do my homework during detention... so I had more time to sleep at home.

BUT, today a teacher CAN hit a student if that student is endangering the safety and well being of the other students.

Only if needed. During most circumstances, getting the student in a locked position (?) will do the trick. Not causing harm, just holding.

Some kids need beating


I think it's pretty stupid how little teachers are able to do about students who behave badly. And it's to every other kid's benefit if the teacher deals with it permanently and can get on with teaching.


Failing grades need to be brought back - public school is easy as hell because it's pretty near impossible to actually fail and get held back. If you're a slower learner (and some people are) you shouldn't move ahead at the same speed as everyone, but at the speed at which you learn what you are supposed to.

back in my day teachers could hit students. i am not sure if it is a good idea, probably not. however parents deff must learn to control their children. an 30 mins detention are a waste. children should learn discipline at home and school only enforce it not have the parents relegate all the work to teachers and then ask their kids not to be hit or yelled at or whatever.

I remember those days! In some countries teachers are allowed to discipline their students in that way, it's not that un-common. Detention doesn't do CRAP for students, b/c they're STILL going to do the same thing they did before. I remember back in private school(in kindergarten & middle) the teacher had a ruler in her hand, & whenever a kid acted up in class you'd get hit on the hand with the ruler. And in middle the HM could give you the paddle if you were disrespectful (only with parental consent). I don't see 30 minutes of detention as punishment, that's just giving you 30 minutes of thumb twiddling~! I had an hour of detention & all i did was do my homework..


Edit:
And public school(for high school) was a waste too..I mean granted you got referrals & it depends on how many referrals you got was your punishment(in school suspension, suspension, expulsion). I think like 10 was your max till you were up for expulsion.. some crap like that..

As for detention, mine were an hour long. I got them almost every day for being late to school. Obviously I learned nothing. Glad my senior year teacher let us sneak in... I did get a chance to do my homework during detention... so I had more time to sleep at home.

You were allowed to do your homework during dentention?! At least that's actually constructive. But it's pointless as a punishment, because it then means you don't have to do homework later. If you get what I mean.

Maybe they should just punish students who frequently disrupt the learning of other students or the whole class, rather than every other thing too. If a student is late, just let them away with it if they can come in quietly. When a teacher yells at a student at the time for being late (I've seen that quite a few times), it's causing more of a disruption than if the student had quietly sat down, isn't the fact that it is disruptive a person coming in late that is part the reason that it's not allowed? As for them missing some of class, whose fault is that? The student who was late!

You were allowed to do your homework during dentention?! At least that's actually constructive. But it's pointless as a punishment, because it then means you don't have to do homework later. If you get what I mean.

The gist of it was "You were late, so now you have to spend an extra hour in school and miss out on hanging with friends." The dean told us to either read a book or do our homework. If I wasn't doing homework, I was sleeping the hour away, then went home. I really learned nothing since I kept being late every morning-every year. (And I don't think homework was a punishment, if that's what you meant.)

The punishment was pointless though. I didn't care about an extra hour in school.

The "old days" was your parents generation...not so "old". Parents were allowed to "spank" children for misbehaving. Teachers were allowed to strap students on the hand, with a leather strap. Detentions were for minor infractions of the rules.

Whether this was right or not, it was a totally different mind set from today. Respectful and well behaved children were expected social qualities.

All through life, there is punishment for bad behaviour. Parents/teachers have a duty to try to teach children the accepted behaviour, so that, hopefully, when they are grown up and on their own, they benefit from knowing what is good/acceptable and what is bad/unacceptable. These teachings can be the difference between a child fulfilling their potential, or ending up in Jail.

Honestly, I'd be all for it, I help out with younger students in my sixth form college (UK) and there are completely hopeless kids who get kept behind, yell, scream, make the classes worse for everyone else in them trying to learn, ignore the teacher, ignore teachers assistants, they get at least one detention every 2 days, other than kicking them out of the school, which doesn't really achieve anything because they'll end up somewhere else and do the same thing.

Worse still, the parents don't care, and they have the audacity to blame the school/college for them raising a bunch of misbehaving gits, then not allowing the teachers to give them any effective punishments.

The gist of it was "You were late, so now you have to spend an extra hour in school and miss out on hanging with friends." The dean told us to either read a book or do our homework. If I wasn't doing homework, I was sleeping the hour away, then went home. I really learned nothing since I kept being late every morning-every year. (And I don't think homework was a punishment, if that's what you meant.)

The punishment was pointless though. I didn't care about an extra hour in school.

Were your detentions after school, or at lunch time?

School discipline... bring it back! Seriously, younger generations are becoming more insolent, rude and lazy. I'm not old enough to have experienced the cane (my dad used to tell me about his school days though) but it would make a difference. In fact... parents should just be allowed to discipline their children appropriately. Start with the source! I was friends with a few classmates who were 'troublemakers' and their parents basically let them do whatever they wanted, and they were always a bit lazy. They seemed shocked when I said I used to get punished for bad behaviour. :f6:

I wouldn't have a problem with teachers hitting students for bad behaviour... in extreme circumstances. If it acts as a deterrent, go for it. I've seen teachers have to put up with student violence (my Year 6 teacher was fierce, she dragged a boy out of the classroom for pushing over a table) and there has to be something they can do. Verbal warnings seem to go in one ear and out the other, and if the parents won't do their job in raising their children to behave and act like good responsible people then let the teachers do it. If you're intentionally rebellious then you need a good smack, if you're a slow learner and have difficulties then that's understandable. It should also be able to teach a lesson for life too. It might seem 'okay' to start a few fights, get in trouble, and slack your way through school scraping pass grades, but in the real world you either pass or fail. Fail at work and it's bai bai job. [Speaking of my personal experiences, I'm the eldest in my family and I would get smacked if I did something quite bad, and I've turned out very well, I'm respectful and had consistently high grades throughout school. In comparison, my sisters didn't get much punishment as my dad softened up and then my parents split, and they're quite rude, and one sister got into the wrong crowd. :/ I'm just saying, it does work in some cases. If you don't like the idea of getting hit, bawww moar. It's character building and teaches you to behave. The thought of not getting hit is enough to put you in the right direction.]

As for detentions, it depends on how the time is used. My school used to call it "Homework Club" (because it wasn't as bad as "detention") and you'd get sent there to get help with homework after school, and the more you forgot/didn't do your homework, the longer the interval (max of 2 hours). I got sent there twice in my whole school years, once for forgetting to e-mail my art assignment to my school e-mail and another for forgetting my gym kit, and I saw it as a stain on my record (not that it was actually recorded). ;_; My sister however ended up there several times a week due to pure laziness and several of her friends didn't really see it as a deterrent. I'd say 30 minutes would be a waste of time unless the time was used productively. Chances are those who end up in detention won't do their homework, will sleep, or do nothing.

For the tl;dr crowd;
1. I think it's okay in 'extreme circumstances', such as constant disruptions, violence towards other students and property damaging.
2. It's a waste of time if the students aren't given something to do that they will LEARN from.

I may also be biased because I can't stand children nowadays, I'd like to punish them all.

I'm all for bringing back corporal punishment.

This generation is extremely self-righteous, self-centered, and ill-behaved. This country also performs poorly in international tests. If corporal punishment is used as a deterrent for not doing homework or disrupting the class, like Manda said, go ahead.

Also, detentions should not be held during lunchtime or after-school. The students after school life should be observed (To see if he hangs with friends a lot or has any music lessons) and then assign the detention to break his/her schedule. I don't see detention having much effect unless it disrupts the students life.

My math teacher punched a girl in my class and kinda bragged about it...

When a teacher yells at a student at the time for being late (I've seen that quite a few times), it's causing more of a disruption than if the student had quietly sat down, isn't the fact that it is disruptive a person coming in late that is part the reason that it's not allowed? As for them missing some of class, whose fault is that? The student who was late!

Screw second chances. If they're late, lock them out of the classroom and throw a surprise quiz. Easy marks for everyone else, no marks for latecomers. It's fricking annoying when people waltz in late.

Failing grades need to be brought back - public school is easy as hell because it's pretty near impossible to actually fail and get held back. If you're a slower learner (and some people are) you shouldn't move ahead at the same speed as everyone, but at the speed at which you learn what you are supposed to.

I agree...kids are cruising through school now with a false sense of confidence, and what education they do get from going to school is meaningless if they're not learning an adequate amount. In today's day and age where people are afraid of hurting the kid's feelings, how are they ever going to properly mature and grow? Maybe failing kids in like kindergarten should not happen since there's not much rote learning going on, but I think past grade 6 or so, the requirements for passing should be more stringent.

I think in general there needs to be punishments of some sort, perhaps not in a physical form. If nothing else, at least detention is unpleasant. Kids, especially when they are younger, still function on a punishment-reward system, so if they can relate undesirable consequences to bad behaviours, I think it can still be somewhat effective. Of course, in this same system, there needs to be appropriate rewards for good behaviour too. =]

Screw second chances. If they're late, lock them out of the classroom and throw a surprise quiz. Easy marks for everyone else, no marks for latecomers. It's fricking annoying when people waltz in late.

Yah, that would work actually. Just anything other than extra punishments/ teacher making a fuss. That's a better idea than what I said