Putting A Child In Time-Out In High School

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Coming from a strict Indian family, getting a disciplinary referral from school was absolutely unacceptable. I always followed the rules and did what was expected for me. I managed to avoid any punishment throughout my educational career, riding on the fear of the consequences. In high school, I spent many of my afternoons walking to different rooms to ask my teachers questions or to go to club meetings. I would frequently pass by the room in the middle of the school with large glass windows: the detention room. Inside, I would always see a room full of kids with a teacher up front. No one was talking. In fact, most of the students had their heads down or were staring at the clock on the wall. I would think to myself, how was this helping anyone? …show more content…

Daniel Gartrell, an educator and director of the Childhood Education Development program, claims that “time-outs do not help children’s development or learning” (Gartrell 1). Gartrell argues that time-outs “rely on blame and shame” (Gartrell 2) in order to discipline the children. However, this can have adverse effects that can be seen as a punishment rather than discipline in the eyes of a child. Children are unable to understand how their behaviors during a conflict correlate with a time-out chair. Rather time-outs affect a child’s self-concept and feelings of inner control. Forcing a child to go sit in a chair in the corner of the room, separate from the rest of the class, is comparable to putting a dunce cap on the child’s head. Gartrell argues that the humiliation can stunt the value of the lesson that is intended and the child’s needs to analyze and learn other alternate strategies. Instead of understanding that they did something wrong, a child may feel that there is something wrong with him as he is being punished. Children of that age are very impressionable. Early childhood education is extremely important as it sets children up for the rest of their educational career. If a child is left feeling bad about themselves, that is not setting them up for success. Time-outs “discourage the individual child and dampen the spirit of all the children in the …show more content…

Corporal punishment, a physical punishment intended to cause pain, is most often associated with physical abuse which it is banned in many states. What most people do not realize however is that corporal punishment is still legal, and put into practice, in 20 states. Such a thing may seem unfathomable, yet there are students who are hit by teachers every day in this so called progressive country. Needless to say, corporal punishment is not only harmful to a student’s physical well-being, but their education as

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