 | I would be very interested in knowing where the school is located where the girl was given 500 lines for passing a note, and whether it was a public or private school.
I teach English at one of the better public high schools in NYC. Fortunately, most of the students are motivated and well behaved, but of course there are a few who are not. And nowadays it is almost impossible to discipline them in any way without the teacher winding up in more trouble than the student.
Last spring I had a freshman (9th grade) student who persisted in drumming on his desk with drumsticks during class. I asked him politely to stop, and he did -- for three minutes or so. After the third warning, I confiscated his drumsticks and informed him that if he wanted them back he would have to write "Drumsticks are for playing the drums, not for disrupting English class" twenty-five (25) times and get it signed by the band instructor. In my mind, this was a reasonable, even lenient, punishment, and I assumed that the band instructor would reinforce my discipline by giving the student a brief lecture as he signed the paper.
Well, I was wrong. In fact, I almost got fired! First thing that happened the next morning is that the band instructor stormed into my classroom irate because I had taken the student's drumsticks away so that he couldn't practice. "We have a concert in two weeks!" he informed me. I handed him the drumsticks and suggested he talk to "Johnny" (not the student's real name) about how to use them properly. He said, "I don't tell you how to teach your students."
Then "Johnny" showed up for class brandishing a piece of paper -- not the lines I'd assigned, but a note from his mom to the effect that he had had an important math test to study for and "didn't have time to write silly sentences over and over."
Finally, I was called into my Chair's office to be reprimanded for this incident. I was told that: 1) Writing should never be used as punishment because that makes kids hate writing; 2) Lines, in particular, cannot be given because they cause physical stress on finger and wrist muscles and are therefore considered corporal punishment; and 3) If I take anything from a student without giving him/her a receipt I am committing a theft.
So, Andrea, though I feel for your daughter and agree with you that 500 lines is excessive, I must say I envy her teacher who can give such a punishment and not end up in hot water. |
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