7th grader punished for bad grades by having to tell everyone about it.

Well, if I am to take the parents at their word, they are saying that it is a 'last resort.'

I'm a little torn about it, too, but none of my kids have had serious behavior issues so I've never even had to consider 'serious measures' to discipline them. I realize from observation that I am a little lucky, though. Some children are difficult to manage. Therefore, I don't feel like I am in a position to judge these parents.

The entire spring break seems a little extreme, but I don't see anything particularly harmful about the punishment in principle. If he were younger I would feel differently about that.
--- merged: Mar 12, 2012 at 4:38 PM ---
snowy said everything i was thinking much more effectively.

 

A person is not going to hunker down and study if they are not motivated - child or adult. Self-motivation has the same effect on the results of tutoring - you can't tutor the will to learn. If I read the article correctly, it is not about the kid's ability to make passing grades, but his will to make them. If this was about a kid trying as hard as he can to pass and still failing, that would be a different story.

Of course, positive reinforcement and incentives are a more print-friendly method of encouraging children to change their ways, but in reality it's not enough to transcend the stubborn will of some kids. Now, you will never find me supporting extreme methods of psychological or corporal punishment like boot camps and the sort - abuse is abuse, I don't care what the kids have done - but I don't glean that from this story.

 

Without knowing jack-shizzle about this particular kid and family, I can't necessarily say whether this is extreme or appropriate. What I can say from my own life and watching others is that I'd love to know more about this kid's home life to be able to put his behavior at school into perspective. Is he a natural goofball, or is he acting out in response to something. I don't know that this is the approach I would take.

 

If all that they are doing is making him stand by the road and holding a sign that embarrasses him, I don't think that is enough. It is a fitting response to clowning though. If he's doing poorly in school, part of his re-education should be to do some extra school type work. I used to make my daughter write me an essay about why she did certain things ( not necessarily school violations ). Me and the wife would read it and score it, and then have her fix any errors.

 

This is BAD parenting. Absolutely. It is punishment in the classical psychological sense, and is generally far less effective in modifying behaviour than is reinforcement (positive or negative). People well do far more for rewards than they will to avoid punishment. Punishment is best used to extinguish quickly behaviours that are inherently dangerous (running into traffic, playing with dangerous objects), followed by reinforcement of a preferred alternative.

This is the sort of thing that is specifically banned by most Ethics Committees in social research except under the most stringent of controlled situations. That this isn't harming the child psychologically is unlikely. Plus, it is reinforcing the class clown (attention seeking) behaviour. He is training his parents to reward his poor academic behaviour by giving him even more attention - theirs in that they are there supervising him; and from strangers through the signs. The honking of their horns would be further reinforcement of his poor performance. I can't believe there would be any good outcomes from this. His parents should have him to a qualified therapist who could develop a group program (child, parents, possibly teacher) that would encourage and reinforce improved academic performance. What they are doing is just BAD.

 

When I was a kid, I liked to stab a steak knife through the screen on our front door.
Even after repeated spankings, I was drawn to stab the screen.
My father then threatened to take me to the police station if I did it again.
I did, and he did.
I didn't do it after that, though.
The police were nice as could be, under the circumstances, and I didn't really feel scared, too much, but the humiliation of it was what curbed my screen killing ways.

Hopefully, this kid will remember the embarrassment he feels as this story goes national and his friends find out about it.


/still get a glint in my eye if I see a screen

 

Yes, I killed quite a few bowls.

 

We couldn't keep a screen door in my house, either... Between knives, cats, and throwing each other through them, mom learned to repair screen doors, up until the day she just gave up.
--- merged: Mar 14, 2012 at 8:00 AM ---

Or maybe he'll get a job as one of those sign spinners on the side of the road. Then won't mom and dad be proud?

 

It depends on whether or not it works. Would I do it to one of my kids? Probably not. I would seek out other options.

I stole a piece of bubble gum from the local candy store when I was six. My father made me confront the owner with my crime. At 14 I stole a lip gloss from Woolworth's. I got away with it.

What does that say? It took me 8 years to forget the lesson. Humiliation works but doesn't last.