[Graham]

Originally Posted by nffc

Fair point, but since when was it acceptable to choose which rules to stick to and which to break - and whether to be allowed to break rules if you think they're "silly" or something equally pathetic?

I didn't say it was "acceptable" for him to break the rules, nor that he should be "allowed" to break the rules, nor even that this rule was "silly", however I don't think that what the teacher did was reasonable.

All he needed to do was to say "ok, because it's your exams I'll let you stay *today*, but if you come in with those tomorrow you're out".

And if it is deemed acceptable, surely that would lead to disobedience, lawlessness and eventually anarchy?

Have you been reading the Daily Mail?? This is the sort of remark that they tend to come out with.

This is the same logic that starts with "zero tolerance" policies and ends with "three strikes" laws that result in people being given 20 year jail sentences for stealing a slice of pizza.

For more about the failures of ZT see http://endzerotolerance.com/zerotolerance_articles.htm
or http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/200...ero_tolerance/ for what happened when American Schools started implementing ZT policies!

Note where the second article says:

Psychologically, such punishments can be devastating. They offer little in the way of instructive value, and exacerbate students' sense of alienation and distrust of authority. James Comer and Alain Poussaint, two of the nation's leading child psychologists, warn that overly harsh punishment "either destroys a child's spirit, has no effect at all, worsens the problem, or makes it more difficult for you to work with the child in school -- he or she no longer trusts you."

For those teenagers already disengaging from school, suspensions are particularly counterproductive. During a developmental period when their most urgent need is to connect and form trusting relationships, these sanctions isolate them from the only community they may know. Susan Black, education research consultant, has noted that "these kids often interpret suspension as a one-way ticket out of school -- a message of rejection that alienates them from ever returning to school." The ensuing chain reaction is depressingly predictable: school failure, dropping out, arrest and incarceration.

Now what good is a form of "discipline" which is likely to create more problems in the future? Remember the recent thread about prison and reoffending? Wouldn't it be a good idea to avoid something which may well "lead to disobedience, lawlessness and eventually anarchy"??