Out-of-School Suspension: Are There Better Ways to Discipline Students?

Over the years the school systems have thought of many ways to discipline a student. Some of these tactics have included paddling to sitting in the corner but as time moved on so the disciplinary tactics in the schools have too. Discipline is now geared more to a more to non-physical and less disruptive. These disciplines include out-of-school suspension, in-school suspension, and the aptly named lunch detention.

There are always pros and cons to each punishment distributed by any official. You have to weight each as a whole and realize what actually works and what does not. Of course other factors also affect the outcome of how well a discipline works. In theory each of these disciplines should work quite well. For example out-of-school suspension removes the student from the school setting not allowing them to return to the social community that they created within the school. In-school suspension removes the student for the main body of the school population without them actually leaving the school grounds for a day or more. Lunch detention only removes the student from involving themselves with the rest of the student body within the span of a lunch period.

Of course the thought that all these ways of discipline work perfectly is just a little far fetched. Not everything works perfectly. These tactics have their faults. In truth they have many faults which I dislike.

Out-of-school suspension, even though it takes students out of the social setting students also see it as a vacation. If they realize that nothing will be done at home then they will continue to try a get out-of-school suspension. Despite the packets of homework sent home none of it gets done unless it's enforced. The problem is many parents will not enforce that the student needs to live up to the punishment. As a future teacher this does not settle well. What is a punishment without help to reinforce it?

In-school suspension is better. A student in in-school suspension actually has to work. The students never leave the school grounds, are placed with a teacher and packet of work the student needs done. The teacher reinforces the thought that the student must do make amends for what the student did. The student also doesn't miss class work because they finish it while their suspension is in effect.

Lunch detention is another form of in-school suspension. The students are only in this form of detention through their lunch period. I personally don't think is as effective as in-school detention because it's only a small amount of their day. Yes they are away from their friends and little social groups but if this detention is not enforced properly then it is useless.

Another form of discipline that was forgotten at the beginning was after school detention. Students stay after school to take their punishment of detention. It usually lasts two to three hours after school hours and the students sit with a teacher in a classroom. There is no speaking during this time and the class is constantly monitored by the teacher. The students work on work provided by teachers of the day or the teacher in that is supervising that day. Now, schools will have a different way to handle after school detention but basically that is what goes on.

Out of all of these ways of punishment, I believe the most productive and useful is that of in-school suspension and that of after school detention. I would completely suggest these ways of punishment to a principle or someone in charge of discipline. The students get more out of the programs instead of just a 'vacation' with out-of-school suspension. The students lose no school time by this suspension and complete as much of their work as they can then. They can get help too if they need it for some work they have from the teacher. Discipline and learning all in one!

Disciplining students doesn't even have to be done with suspensions or detentions either. An in school work program can also work. It is not hard labor, just labor that consists of character building and discipline. A student that was caught doing something wrong can work off his punishment by helping the janitors clean bathrooms, empty trash cans, sweep, or anything else of that effect. This program wouldn't have to come out of the student's class time either. They can work before school, after school, or during their lunch period.

Discipline does not have to be just line for line, by the book stuff. Faculty has to realize that in an every changing society discipline also has to change with it. You have to be prepared to discipline to the child and put them to work instead of giving them a vacation. The school system must push to keep the ideas for new programs moving forward or the roles of disciple will never work.