Last week, Education Week published an appalling commentary from LouAnne Johnson assailing the most common deterrent to student misbehavior: detention. She complains that "using detention as a catchall cure for student misbehaviors is like using one medicine for every physical ailment." We don't expect one pill to cure colds, bronchitis, etc., she argues, "yet schools assign detention for tardiness, fighting, daydreaming, forgetfulness, laziness, defiance, profanity, truancy, overexuberance, drunkenness, stealing, cheating, lying, or being the object of physical assault." (One hopes most schools have a different plan of action for the most severe among those infractions!) Rather than assigning such miscreants to detention, Johnson contends, we must ask "What are we not teaching [these children]" so that we can find out "why students misbehave and help them correct their mistakes." Additionally, she insists that "unless students are physically aggressive or dangerous to classmates, remedial reading classes would be much more effective than detention or in-school suspension." You gotta understand these kids, see? (Gee, Officer Krupke.) Students only misbehave when they are frustrated with school, right? Well, no. The truth is, many students act out because that's what teenagers do - they test limits and create mischief and push back against authority. And, having a clearly defined consequence for specific actions is one way to set the explicit limits that they need - and need to have enforced. By setting such limits and holding all kids to them, you can learn which among them are just testing the limits - because they'll likely respond to the deterrent - and who needs more individualized attention.
"Down with detention," by LouAnne Johnson, Education Week, December 1, 2004