Recent Comments: Writing As Punishment - A Rant

From our post of January 23rd on "Writing As Punishment":

"Personally, I believe all of us turn too quickly to punishment to solve behavior problems when other approaches might work better. But I concede that there may be times when punishment is necessary. At those time, when punishment is administered I very strongly believe that the "punishment should fit the crime." I absolutely DO NOT consider having students write an essay in response to a behavior problem to be an appropriate punishment.

...I am not a teacher, so I can barely begin to understand or appreciate the challenge of maintaining discipline in a classroom. However, as a parent concerned with the use and overuse of punishment, my thinking has been radically affected by the works of Alfie Kohn, especially his book _Punished by Rewards_. He takes a very critical look at, and offers alternatives to, the popular methods of punishment and reward used in our culture. You may find some food for thought in his books"

- RAE

"I see nothing wrong with using writing assignments as a punishment. It is used in the UK in some private schools. State schools have banned it, along with everything else.

As a teenager, I was made to go to a saturday detention where I had to copy out one line for ever and ever. 3 hours in the morning, lunch break and 3 hours in the afternoon. You wouldn't want to do that again the following week would you ?"

- Mckensie

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