Am I being over sensitive?

PolishBigSpender

What kind of sick, inhumane society condones the humiliation of a child?

Cleaning chewing gum from under a table with a spoon is humiliating and degrading - you wouldn't expect paid cleaners to do it, so why should a child?

No wonder UK society is falling apart when people actually condone such barbaric practices.

Lyger

Cleaning chewing gum from under desks was a standard after school detention punishment when I was in school, not all that long ago - I'm 25 now.

I never had to do it though - worst I ever had were a few lunchtime detentions writing lines. The threat of cleaning chewing gum was enough to deter me from pushing the line of 'naughty' behaviour too far.

xmaslolly76

Polish Big Spender :
What is barbaric about asking the student to scrape chewing gum off the desks i did it when i was young and you will find most of the kids have stuck a few pieces of gum there themselves so why shouldnt they clean it up. If anything its the nanny state attitudes of people like yourself that are making this country fall apart children have no respect for anything or anybody anymore and its because they know we cannot do anything about it. Their teachers are no longer allowed to punish them the police are no longer seen as a deterant and the parents themselves are no longer allowed to punish their offspring for fear of some back lash from social services.

Now do not get me wrong i do not condone smacking or caning. But giving a child a sence of shame over a punishable deed is acceptable otherwise we will continue to churn out the vicky pollards of this world

PolishBigSpender

xmaslolly76 wrote: »

Polish Big Spender :What is barbaric about asking the student to scrape chewing gum off the desks i did it when i was young and you will find most of the kids have stuck a few pieces of gum there themselves so why shouldnt they clean it up.

Why should someone have to clean up the mess someone else made, particularly during a rest period from classes? The fact that the child has presumably just eaten lunch makes this even worse.

If anything its the nanny state attitudes of people like yourself that are making this country fall apart children have no respect for anything or anybody anymore and its because they know we cannot do anything about it.

There are plenty of more effective ways to discipline a child (although it's clearly obvious in this case that the punishment does not fit the crime!) than to degrade and humiliate a child. Anyway, I don't live in the UK. I don't think I could live in a society that still condones humiliation of individuals as being an acceptable punishment.

Chairman Mao would be proud.

Their teachers are no longer allowed to punish them the police are no longer seen as a deterant and the parents themselves are no longer allowed to punish their offspring for fear of some back lash from social services.

Please, get a sense of perspective. The child has been punished in a ridiculously over the top manner, particularly as he completed the assignment set. The fact that the teacher is favouring those with overprotective parents (who probably did the entire assignment!) makes your argument even less valid than it originally was.

Now do not get me wrong i do not condone smacking or caning. But giving a child a sence of shame over a punishable deed is acceptable otherwise we will continue to churn out the vicky pollards of this world

Punishable deed? I refer you to the original post. The child COMPLETED the task.

Get down off your Daily Mail horse and get into the real world.

Why is the UK so hung up on punishing children through barbaric and bizzare punishments? Writing lines or making them clean chewing gum is going to do nothing for anyone - wouldn't it make much more sense to give something back to the community as a suitable punishment?

DKLS

Out of interest Polishbigspender, what would be the range of punishments available to use on pupils in Poland?

erichamster

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

What kind of sick, inhumane society condones the humiliation of a child?

Cleaning chewing gum from under a table with a spoon is humiliating and degrading - you wouldn't expect paid cleaners to do it, so why should a child?

No wonder UK society is falling apart when people actually condone such barbaric practices.

You are joking aren't you?! Surely nobody actually thinks like this? What exactly is degrading, humilitating and barbaric about cleaning? Its an everyday task in my house, sure I don't enjoy it but I certainly don't feel humiliated when I'm doing the housework, I wouldn't like to come to your house for tea!

I can accept that it perhaps wasn't the most appropriate punishment for this particular child (as it would have been for a child actually caught chewing and sticking the gum under the table) but is still a good punishment which I agree wholeheatedly with. If a child has misbehaved, why shouldn't their punishment be something that actually benefits the school and allows them to achieve something of worth, after all who does writing lines benefit?

xmaslolly76

I agree for this particular child the punishment does outway the crime. But i still stand by my view that cleaning chewing gum from under desks is a perfectly acceptable form of punishment for the right crime. As for give something back to the community this is giving something back it means other children can sit at the desks without fear of having chewing gum stuck to their ( very expensive these days) Uniforms. Something that has happened to my own daughter on more than one accasion.

Having said that if the child in question did not turn in a satisfactory level of home work then the teacher has every right to place him in detention why should he be allowed to enter inferior work and get away with it if the other children have put time and effort into theirs. The teacher didnt single the child out numerous other children where subject to detentions as well. If the parent feels her child has been unfairly treated she should ask to see the work he handed in and the level of work the other pupils turned in then decide from there if the original punishment was just or not. As for getting another 4 detentions for missing one that in my opinion is over the top. He should have been made to do his missed one and maybe another one as a deterent for missing anymore he may receive but that is just my opinion.

In the school i attended detention could range from writing lines to picking up litter in the playground at breaktimes. It brings to mind the old saying if you cant do the time dont do the crime.

Kirri

BARGAINHUNTER! wrote: »

Funnily enough my son really enjoys geography as its a subject that he has a lot of interest in. He dosen't like the teacher though (he didn't really before this happened - he has said to me before that he shouts a lot (not at my son!)) but we have had a chat about how you don't always like everyone you come into contact with and as long as he behaves in class and does his homework and tries his hardest he will enjoy the lessons more and he might find that he likes the teacher after all!

Hope he continues to enjoy it even with this teacher! I personally don't feel teachers should shout, to me that just seems like a teacher that can't cope - if it's more raising his voice then I guess fair enough but anything more than that and he sounds a bit of a crap teacher!

Curious_George_2

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

Cleaning chewing gum from under a table with a spoon is humiliating and degrading - you wouldn't expect paid cleaners to do it, so why should a child?

sorry but i think you would, they are paid... to clean

fifi35

Hi just read your post. I think the punishment is rather hard however they seem to be quite consistent and treating others the same way. My sons school is the opposite, there is no discipline because the teachers can;t be bothered. Think I would rather have over discipline than none at all.
Hope your problem is now resolved.