Re: GEN: Detention rooms

[Earl Sande <sandes@wilken-dsm.com>]

Detention Rooms?  I haven't heard that phrase since the 1960s -  the
system worked only for those meak-and-mild who don't usually get into
trouble; for the hard core, it posed a wonderful opportunity.  First,
you are identified to a larger portion of the student population and
organizes this into a new social group with a whole status code of how
many things you can do before you get a detention and, ultimately, how
many detentions you and your new friends can rack up.  Second, it
punished the teachers.  Recall that few principals ever sat detention
rooms.  And few teachers ever seemed to enjoy it.  Nor could they really
get any work done during that time.
So what are some alternatives?  Most often vandalism is anonymous and
I'm not certain how this can be worked on.  But working with those you
seem to have located might be a start. Vandals take little pride in
their school and quite often do not recognize that it is hard work and
costs money to repair the damage they cause.  It is a serious mistake to
not let the "punishment fit the crime."  A vandal should have to pay
with his/her time and his/her money to repair the damage.  Graffiti?
Contact the parents seeking their support and have the child's allowance
go towards paying for paint, arrange for his/her to work for money to
pay it, etc.  Then have the child come in and repaint the area to your
satisfaction, keeping on coming until its done.  You might, for example,
have a committee of teachers, parents, and students who decide this.
When accomplished be sure to praise for a job well done, rather than the
"that'll learn you."
Finally, if this is such a problem, why not get a group of teachers,
administrators, parents, students, and board members to work on
identifying what the real problem is.  I have found in my library and in
my classroom that if I take pride in the room by buying new furniture,
decorating with plants etc., most vandalism drops to insignificance.


Medway High School wrote:

> We are having a few problems with students in the hallways at our
> school. Vandalism, litter, disrespect for authority has been a
> consistent problem since the beginning of this school year. During a
> recent staff meeting the idea of setting up a detention room might be
> a
> deterent for some of our trouble makers.
>
> Does anyone have any experience with detention rooms? Do they work and
>
> if so what are some of the lessons you have learned with this form of
> punishment. Please reply to this e-mail address.
>
> TIA
>
> Paul Swan
> Teacher/Librarian
> Medway High School
> Arva, Ontario
> medway.hs@sympatico.ca
>
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--
Earl Sande, Upper School Librarian,
International School of Tanganyika,
United Nations Road,
Post Office Box 2651,
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
(e-mail : sandes@wilken-dsm.com)

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