Ouch!

My summer class slipped from its usual attentive behavior today. I warned several students that their behavior was going to result in me punishing the entire class, but they continued to disobey me. I even pulled one student next to the radio where I have to sit to control the tape deck, but even the proximity to me wasn't enough to keep him in check.

I decided I would set up a punishment proportional to the amount of headaches they cause me in class. I went about arranging this by checking their test scores. The students that were less attentive were having the most problems listening, and their blanks on the dictation tests indicated who wasn't really trying very hard. I told them I expected them to attempt to answer every question or face consequences. I went out of my way to give them extra help as well. I wrote down their totals on my paper, then had the class follow me for their punishment.

I got the class to sit down near our stairs. The school is located in a basement with a long row of steps leading the the first floor outside. I told the students that for every answer they had gotten completely wrong they would have to go up and down the stairs once. If they disobeyed me or got me angry I would add five or ten more return trips.

The boys that didn't make any mistakes were happy to guard the stairwell for me so that the other students couldn't escape. Most of the students were finished in under a minute or two. One boy ran a total of eight laps for doing badly and having to be warned about his behavior too often. He was panting by the time he descended the stairs the final time.

I asked them when the worst punishment they had ever gotten. Reed beatings were the most physically painful, but some other students had some interesting other physical acts that teachers made them do. One was to stand facing a wall, with your entire front touching. Then, raise a leg and lift your arms to the side. Hold that position for five minutes without letting any of your limbs rest on anything and only the wall for balance. Another torture method was to hold your ears with you hands, squat with your knees touching your elbows. Then, in this position, walk around the room one hundred times. It looked more embarrassing than anything else. The ever popular "holding a crouch: without sitting or stabilization seemed to get some students groaning as well.

These are the good students in the highest level class, and they are being beaten at school? Yikes. Punishment to keep behavior in check is one thing, but I think a smack with a reed is uncalled for.

Previous Entry:[Previous entry: "A nice walk in the mountains, if you get past the sprawl."], Next Entry: [Next entry: "Similiar pronunciation, vastly different meaning"]