The logic of schools and explaining it to children who have never been
I have, as you know, four children – three of whom have never attended school of any kind. There are sometimes things I’ve had to explain over the years about school that they don’t understand. Sometimes I have had to try and explain things even *I* don’t understand.
Like yesterday.
“Tell me again,” said Addison, Master of Logic and Sarcasm, “why suspension is a punishment? Because they say so?”
And we were both left to ponder the illogic of if you are caught skipping school (cuffing, jigging, playing hookie) then many times the punishment, as it were, is that you are actually *forbidden* to attend.
One would think students would be leaving in droves. And I wonder what would happen, for instance, if a parent tried something like that? Oh, you stayed up too late watching tv last night? Well, for the next week, I am going to force you to stay up every night and watch tv. Didn’t do your chores like I asked? Fine, next week, NO CHORES FOR YOU!
Yeah. That works.
I’ve often wondered about that. Can only assume that it’s a peer pressure thing – it’s cool to skip, but not cool to be caught?
Comment by Jax — August 22, 2006 @ 1:41 pm
I suspect that it actually is a very ineffective punishment. I’d like to see some stats on recidivism.
Comment by JoVE — August 22, 2006 @ 2:28 pm
Ya, I never did understand suspension as a punishment for not showing up for school. But the thing that I don’t get, is that they want the kids to come back. To stay away, but only for a little while, then come back. And somehow catch up because they are even more behind than when they were just ditching school.
If a kid gets suspended from school for not showing up, make it permanent for the rest of the year. Then, it would make sense. There should be a contract signed, by the student, at the beginning of the year, stating, “By signing this contract, I am agreeing to attend school and do my best to keep up with the school’s requirements. If I do not live up to the bindings of this contract, I am aware that I will be disenrolled and it will be up to me and my parents to find a different school to attend to adhere to the truancy educational codes.” I’m sure private schools have something like this.
This way, it would make them think twice about suspension as a punishment, and would only be used when they are really sure that this kid just won’t work at that school, or that he doesn’t want to be there. If kids don’t go to school, and don’t want to be there, perhaps the solution isn’t to force them back into a situation that isn’t working for them, and then blaming them for not abiding by the rules of an organization that they don’t want to be a part of.
On the other hand, this would require that there actually is an option other than homeschooling, because I would hazard a guess, that most kids who ditch school on a regular basis, don’t have parents who would be interested in homeschooling them. So, what’s a school to do? Especially if they are under law to accept all children? I bet there are cases where they wish they could just tell the kids who give them trouble to take a hike.
Boy, there just isn’t an easy solution.
Comment by Tammy Takahashi — August 22, 2006 @ 4:02 pm
Actually I think that they rely on the parent to make it into a punishment. The parent usually comes up with some way such as restricting/working the kid while they are on suspension.
The peer pressure thing is more on the parents…since it is a pain for the parent (embarrassment, having to stay home from work, getting mad that your kid is in trouble) they are more likely to provide “incentive” for the kid not to do it again.
Comment by Stephanie — August 22, 2006 @ 4:57 pm
Actually, it’s a grade thing. Any work missed while on suspension can not be made up and must be marked as a zero.
As a former teacher, there’s a whole other layer of hypocrisy to appreciate. The administration will warn teachers that they are NOT to use grades to punish misbehavior–absolutely verboten! So, then, here’s the administration using grades to punish misbehavior!
Comment by Karen — August 22, 2006 @ 8:21 pm
The trouble is with Karen’s explanation, is it doesn’t take into account the UK school system – we don’t do grades in the same way, so it can’t be the only reason that suspension is a punishment. It does seem to be bizarre that the punishment one recieves prior to suspension is detention – the exact opposite! However, I don’t think it’s just kids who have never been to school who don’t understand the point of a lot of the things that go on there. On the contrary, most schooled kids seem to have no real idea what the real reason is for their being there!
I think the real problem with explaining school to children who have never been, particularly young children, is telling them what really goes on in them. Eg. our oldest (only 3 yrs at the moment) often says about wanting to go to school, but her only experience of it is her schooled friends talking about their ‘school friends’ and seeing children playing in the playground as we walk past – looks and sounds like great fun! But how do you explain lessons? And teachers? And the fact that once you’re there you have to stay there until the end of the day? Ho hum…
Comment by Clare — August 23, 2006 @ 7:20 am
My step-monster’s idea of punishing us for waking her up too early was to have us stay up super late, dancing with laundry baskets on our heads for her amusement. And if we’d sit down or say we were tired, we’d get smacked. Can’t say if it was the staying up late part or the humiliation and smacking (though I’m going to guess the latter…), but it surely worked.
Oh, and my school had the torture of “in school suspension,” which was just another way to say, “Sit here in this closet and be still for the next 6 hours.”
Ah, childhood…
Comment by Faerie Rebecca — August 23, 2006 @ 4:11 pm
I always wondered that as well. It was usually the person who gave a flying flip whether he was in school or not who got suspended.
Your post reminded me — the girls just got their first Captain Underpants book after coveting a PS friend’s copy for quite a while. Once they got it and started reading, they were a bit confused, since 90% of the humor is gross exaggeration of how horrible school is. They had absolutely no point of reference and didn’t really get any of it!
Comment by Gem — August 23, 2006 @ 11:41 pm
I guess it is just to cause shame, but I always think the need to punish at all shows a lack of creativity on the part of the punisher. If they were any good at all kids might actually want to be there. Or how about the natural onsequence approach? You skip school and your grades suffer as a result. That would work too.
Comment by Kim c — August 24, 2006 @ 2:07 am
Kim C–no such natural consequence these days. The children just get their parents to write a note to the school saying they were sick and the school HAS to allow make up work. Every single person involved can know it’s a lie, but if the parents commit the lie to paper, the school has no recourse (up to about 10 absences–after that, the school can take the parent to court and the court can require doctor’s notes).
Comment by Karen — August 24, 2006 @ 11:20 am
In the UK, suspension – or as it is nowadys usually termed in the UK Sate schools Exclusion isn’t used as a response to truancy – The guidance from the government on this to schools is that it should only be used for breaches of the schools rules which seroiusly disrupt the school or threaten pupils/staff. IME it’s moslty used for serious fights/violence, abuse etc. Though of course there are cases where schools ahve used exclusion for rather more trivial reasons
Comment by Chris F — August 25, 2006 @ 8:27 pm
Gem – your comment is spot on. We had many friends (with kids in ps) recommend the Junie B Jones series, so we borrowed a few from the library. The common themes are: complaining about the bus ride, being picked on by classmates, paying attention to the teacher, despising homework, fighting in the lunchroom, etc. My kids just couldn’t relate, thank goodness.
On a slightly different topic, not too long ago I read a criticism about the type of books that are typically promoted by schools. One father said he decided to read through the list of books given to his third grader, and was saddened to discover that not one had a story where the kids & parents had a respectful, loving relationship. Throughout the books the young characters expressed a dislike and distrust towards their parents.
Comment by Susan — September 7, 2006 @ 4:36 pm