0184: Punitive Silence: Baiting Students for Trouble
#education #punishment #strange #SOSchat
I’ve written a bit in the past, long past, about a disciplinary practice my school implements called “Silence”. Basically, students are deemed to be too loud or “unruly” in the halls, or tardy, or whatever, and administration implements a sort of punitive silence. And, while I don’t like it, and notice that it causes more problems in the classroom, I can understand the logic of it—usually. An undesired behavior occurs, so a consequence is given. Makes sense.
Today’s “silence” is a bit unusual. An announcement was made that we would be “going on ‘silence’ to teach our new seventh graders about how things work here…and if [they] don’t obey, they will be placed in Saturday School…”. This seems a little out of line to me. It’s kind of like a playground bully punching you in the nose for the Hell of it just so you’ll know what it feels like—a preventative ass whooping if you will.
I may be out of touch, or out of line, but this seems innocently dystopian (whatever that means).
0159: Punitive Silence: Quiet Halls and Raucous Classrooms
#education #SOSchat #discipline
Our students have been ‘on silence’ for the past week. ‘On Silence’ means students aren’t permitted to talk at all between classes. This is a punitive measure enforced when students are deemed too loud in the halls, are preparing for an upcoming test, if someone got into a fight the day before, an array of arbitrary reasons, and so forth. Such group contingencies, at least in our case, breed an atmosphere of resentment among the student population. Time between classes is a valuable time for minimal socialization between classes. They have no break during the day besides lunch. One lunch period is silent or kept under militaristic rule and the other is social. There’s little time to release the pressure for students outside of class. As one might figure, days when we are ‘on silence’ result in more unruly behavior in the classroom. But, this doesn’t seem to register with the decision makers. C’est la vie I suppose.
Thoughts?
Follow up:
0160: The Enforcement of Punitive Silence (follow up)
polygonal-lasso answered: How in the world do you enforce silence? And I’ve never seen broad punishments do more than make most students, even “good” ones, resentful.
coloursinaflower answered: How is the silence enforced?
First, the silence in enforced randomly. Obviously, students are going to disobey this order. It’s beyond ridiculous. As students walk from class to class, teachers monitor, under the panoptic supervision of administration. Several of the ‘monitors’ echo the rule: “we’re on silence,” they yell. Sometimes administration walks around yelling the same thing. A cognizant colleague walks past me and says: “I’d say good morning, but we’re on silence.” I still haven’t gotten around to how the silence is enforced. I’ll continue. The mechanics of how it is enforced is actually quite brilliant, but this is only by accident or plum luck (unfortunately, I don’t work for a sinister master of thought control), and there is little connection to possible negative consequences of the ‘Silence’. As I’ve said, it is enforced randomly. Students who are caught talking are pulled out of the crowd and receive one of a few punishments. Some are disappeared to In School Suspension (ISS). Others are given Saturday school. And others still might fall victim to corporal punishment. Mechanically, many students comply publically out of
fear of the punishment. Other students rebel openly. Some prefer ISS to classes. Some have to come on Saturdays for “mandatory tutoring”. These students are required to come because of test scores. Most are old enough not to fear the paddle. It hurts, but they’re a little older. But, these students are outliers. Most fall in line to avoid the punishment, and let their steam out in the classroom.
This is detrimental to the learning environment. The classroom, for many, becomes an extension of the rigid hallway rules. Students are going to get their socialization in one way or another. To manufacture a learning environment teachers have a few choices. 1) They can implement the same sort of discipline in the classroom. Disruptors are removed and disciplined. 2) The teacher can completely surrender and accept chaos. Learning is
also minimal with this option. 3) Compromise is an option. With this are an array of innovative tools that can be employed to ensure an amicable learning environment.
I hope this answered some questions. Perhaps it stimulated some more. Do share good friends.
0160: More on Punitive Silence
#education #discipline #SOSchat
polygonal-lasso answered: How in the world do you enforce silence? And I’ve never seen broad punishments do more than make most students, even “good” ones, resentful.
coloursinaflower answered: How is the silence enforced?
First, the silence in enforced randomly. Obviously, students are going to disobey this order. It’s beyond ridiculous. As students walk from class to class, teachers monitor, under the panoptic supervision of administration. Several of the ‘monitors’ echo the rule: “we’re on silence,” they yell. Sometimes administration walks around yelling the same thing. A cognizant colleague walks past me and says: “I’d say good morning, but we’re on silence.” I still haven’t gotten around to how the silence is enforced. I’ll continue. The mechanics of how it is enforced is actually quite brilliant, but this is only by accident or plum luck (unfortunately, I don’t work for a sinister master of thought control), and there is little connection to possible negative consequences of the ‘Silence’. As I’ve said, it is enforced randomly. Students who are caught talking are pulled out of the crowd and receive one of a few punishments. Some are disappeared to In School Suspension (ISS). Others are given Saturday school. And others still might fall victim to corporal punishment. Mechanically, many students comply publically out of
fear of the punishment. Other students rebel openly. Some prefer ISS to classes. Some have to come on Saturdays for “mandatory tutoring”. These students are required to come because of test scores. Most are old enough not to fear the paddle. It hurts, but they’re a little older. But, these students are outliers. Most fall in line to avoid the punishment, and let their steam out in the classroom.
This is detrimental to the learning environment. The classroom, for many, becomes an extension of the rigid hallway rules. Students are going to get their socialization in one way or another. To manufacture a learning environment teachers have a few choices. 1) They can implement the same sort of discipline in the classroom. Disruptors are removed and disciplined. 2) The teacher can completely surrender and accept chaos. Learning is
also minimal with this option. 3) Compromise is an option. With this are an array of innovative tools that can be employed to ensure an amicable learning environment.
I hope this answered some questions. Perhaps it stimulated some more. Do share good friends.
0157: Guns, Violence, and Zero Tolerance…Oh, and exile for kids
#education #prison #SOSchat
The past few days have been a bit turbulent. There have been quite a few fights, some threats made by students, and a gun. All violent things. All falling under zero tolerance policies, of which I am not a fan. I must state, up front, that I understand the concept of punishing/treating the “crimes” that are the most dangerous or the ones that have the most danger of being repeated in such a way that would discourage them from being repeated (visit Foucault for on this). Guns are not a good idea at school, clearly. Fighting is not the best outlet for conflict resolution. Threats should not be made. But, should students be exiled from education completely for the acts? Put another way, does simply removing the “perpetrator” from the academic environment help more than it hurts?
First, I’ll address guns. My first week as a teacher ended with a student bringing in a sawed-off shotgun. To my knowledge he had no intention of using in class, even though he and I had a heated exchange. He claimed that he was being beaten up on the way home from school. The gun was an extreme measure, but he deemed it necessary. He was expelled without any services from the district. So no school, and no help. He was exiled. I’ve not heard from him, but nothing was done to help his situation or help him deal with it. Potentially he became a violent offender, followed through with the his original intention, etc. He certainly did not return to school. Expulsion may be the best option. Certainly, we should do what we can to prevent students from bringing guns to school, but we should equally do what we could/can to treat the symptom. Shouldn’t we try to help students deal with problems before they get to the point of bringing a gun? If they bring one should we try to help them so the problem won’t worsen? I don’t think completely severing all ties is the best course of action for the student or for society. The student who brought the gun last week was also expelled, but with no psychological services and will be returning next year. Perhaps time will help?
Students who fight are arrested, carried away in a police car, and suspended for ten days— no questions asked. They return after ten days, or not, and receive no services, no conflict resolution, no anger management, nothing. Additionally, they’re behind in coursework, and possibly were behind to begin with. Many students get in more trouble while there are home for suspension. The alternative to suspension of course would be an alternative setting or some sort of psychological/conflict resolution service which of course would have a cost. And then, there’s the reinforcement, for some, of being hauled away in a police car. There’s no such thing as bad publicity, right? Is it necessary to send children away in a police car simply because they got into a fight? Should there not be some sort of teaching that extends beyond the tested curriculum? Teachers try, but often aren’t equipped or allotted the time. Further, fights are born out various stresses and conflicts some stem from the neighborhood others from school. The test certainly adds to stress, and when it’s over it seems supervision becomes lax.
Some fights that would usually have been prevented happen. Yet, another factor. So if some responsibility lies with the school should the school just ship students away? Certainly not.
The same goes with threats, violent language, etc. We punish the language without offering a reasonable or better alternative. We punish and do not replace as as a system. There should be some teaching dialogue that accompanies infractions; that is, if we don’t want them repeated.
The system is broken. Sometimes it seems schools are prison-preparation programs. What can be done?
0046: Stop Recess: We’re in School Improvement
#teaching #testocracy #rebellion #test
I’ll be brief. Schools get into trouble because of poor test scores. This “trouble” stirs fear. People fear for their jobs from the top down. Threats are made, also from the top down. And then, a symphony of knee jerk reactions.
I was in a school that cancelled recess, music, and P.E. from kindergarten through sixth grade. These were noted as a waste of time when “we should be preparing for state tests”. The kids went wild and classes didn’t run as smoothly. No shit, right? People need balance. Anyway, some teachers took their kids to recess, and we’re written up and reprimanded. Other teachers had recess in their classrooms, looking out for the wandering administrative spy. Teachers did what they needed to do, but to their own avail.
There was also a ban on silent sustained reading. This was labeled a “waste of time”. Teacher’s were told that kids had time to read outside of class, and reading should “just be taught”. We know that there are myriad benefits for free reading time from motivation to reinforcing skills to better behavior because the kids get a moment to debrief and venture elsewhere in their minds.
These knee jerk reactions are harmful. They are based in fear and not in research. Principals, think before you react. Don’t harm your staff, and ultimately the students in your care. Teachers, be bold and clever in your rebellion for the betterment of your students. Everyone is under the gun, and it’s causing permanent damage. Standardized testing and it’s fallout is injuring a generation of our society. So be bold. Do what you can to survive, but don’t forget you’re responsible for the survival of others too.
