User: JDave61

Howard,

While I would not describe myself as a big advocate of corporal punishment, I find myself in complete agreement with your comments about the very PC, and highly ridiculous nonsense that asserts it is wrong to punish misbehaving students. I personally prefer a disciplinary system that employs detention and writing assignments (usually lines), with corporal punishment reserved for severed offenses involving violence or the relatively rare situations in which non-corporal methods have not been successful. To my mind writing punishments, expecially lines, can be just as effective as corporal punsihment in most instances, and may even be more effective with some students. However, I have noticed that many of the same people who vehimently oppose corporal punishment also oppose writing punishments and detention. And without if the school does not use at least one of these three methods, I doubt the school has any meaningful punishment.

I also agree with your your comments concerning prefects. All decisions regarding punishment should be reserved for teachers and administrators. Student prefects are simply too young and inexperienced to preoperly carry out this very important responsibility. At most, prefects should be permitted to advise teachers or adminsitrators concerning punishment, but never should be ina position to impose it.

I remember when I was in high school one of the brothers (I went to Catholic schools) observed that when he was teaching at another Catholic high school, the adminsitation gave members of the student council the authority to assign detentions (a power usually reserved for faculty and administration) and the number of detentions exploded. Needless to say, the student council members authority to issue detentions was soon rescinded.

I believe that corporal punishment can be effective. However, I also believe that in most instances a strict procedure involving detention and lines can be just as effective, and may even be more effective with certain students. For this reason, I would try to limit the use of corporal punishment to extremely severe offenses in which the offending student has behaved violently or where other disciplinary methods have been successful. I would expect these situation to be reletively rare.

Downey,

It seems to me that your teacher was entirely too lenient with you. If you had been late too my class a second time I would not have hestitated to give you 500 lines. That same would have been true for a second gum chewing offense (a major no no in my class). A third offense would have resulted in 1000 lines and the number of lines would have increased by at least 1000 lines for each additional offense. I rarely have a third offense let alone a fourth or fifth offense!

colinjohn,

Your statement indicates precisely why you should have to write lines rather than be paddled. If you want to receive a paddling, then giving you one might serve to reinforce rather than detur your misbehavior. Hence, I think it should be lots of lines and detention for you!