I didn't intend to let the assignment actually make me think! In my Educational Psychology class we had to do a research paper, picking out from a number of topics. I found one that sounded interesting and had less than 25 pages, so Punishment ended up being my topic.
And right near the end of writing the paper, all of the sudden the ideas starting hitting me. What kind of punishment do our children get in school these days? The paddle is now no longer politically correct with all of the sue happy parents. (I'll admit, I really don't want my kids being spanked by a dictatorial Mr **** even though I think my kids deserve a nice paddling every once in a while).
So now we have Time Out on various levels: study hall, restitution, crisis centers, and detention.
So does Time Out really work for the kids who are doing poorly in school? Mmm... I would hazard to say "No, not really". Is the kid learning to take accountability? Is the kid learning how to cope with the stressors of life?
Okay, for someone like me or my friends, yeah it does work. I'd be embarrassed to go, humiliated. But I know a lot of kids that wear it like a badge of honor, they have no qualms with telling their peers that they just got out of detention. They only get bugged when the grown-ups start in with the lectures of how they "shouldn't, because...." or the annoying concern: "we miss you, we care about you!"
So how do we help these kids that are society's misfits, who hate authority, thumb their noses at the rules?
The article I read (I'll have to reference it when I get it back) was a study on the kids that frequently got kicked out of class who were put in a Behavioral Management Class. They were tested before and after the training period. In the class, they used all of the different learning techniques to learn to recognize their problems and to see how they affect others. They role played scenarios with their peers. The study, although needing a bit more work in order to be conclusive, saw that all of the students attendance improved on the days that the training class was held and all of the students experienced an increase in their empathy levels.
While I was writing, the implications of this type of learning environment starting hitting me. So if the students developed a bond in that class enough to where they actually went to class that day - why not have it everyday?? If empathy increased, I'm thinking that these kids are beginning to realize that what they do really does affect others - that they
matter! If kids felt like they matter, don't they usually stop acting out in negative disruptive ways? I could take it so far as to believe that graduation rates would go up and the need for alternative schools and detention centers could even decrease. And with that you could even hazard a theory that jail populatons would decrease if this was a widespread and common practice in the school districts.
What would it take to get something like this kind of program going? Use a contract teacher who is interested and send them to the training workshop and have this as a class as opposed to just putting them in a study hall. Have them start actively addressing the issues that got them there in the first place. Learn to take accountability. Help them figure out why they do those kinds of things. Help them recognize what sets them off. And then train them with the coping methods to figure out how to manage the triggers. When kids are learning that there is a positive way to deal with the things that they don't like they will be able to deal with real life so much the better!
Maybe I'm a dreamer, maybe I'm a Pollyanna, but I really don't think just removing the kid from the class and giving them busy work is going to really solve their problems. And those are the kids that need it the most. Those are the kids that are skating down the big hill without any brakes. Pretty scary.
This is actually a cause I wouldn't mind becoming involved in. This is a solution that could solve many societal issues in the long run. Hmmm..... Maybe a nitch I could fill if doing music full time is not an option. (And yes, music is incorporated into the training program, too, so that is a plus!)
Possibilities.
Guess I got tricked into actually thinking, and even dreaming. And I'm smiling.
