Just what planet do some of these people live on, haven’t they heard of discipline or zero tolerance? Definitely not the same one as most of the population!
"A councillor has called on schools to offer meditation classes to disruptive pupils rather than putting them in detention.
Shuguftah Quddoos, who represents the Berridge ward at Nottingham City Council, made the suggestion during a discussion about exclusion rates at secondary schools.
Nottingham has one of the highest exclusion rates in England.
The idea was put to chief executives from two local school trusts."
It might work, enforced meditation sounds more horrible than detention!
Detention doesn’t work for repeat offenders, really. At our school detention was on Wednesday evenings and often I’d forget whether I had one or not and just turn up anyway!
No I don’t think proper meditation could be useful in this situation. Why not put them to work in the community (outwith school hours), teach them to be part of something?
Whenever I see something about unruly pupils, it first reminds me of how my school days were when any poorly-behaved pupils were reminded there and then that their behaviour was not acceptable. Secondly, it reminds me of a television series where a school changed to having zero tolerance to poor behaviour. Teachers were in the corridors when classes changed over and at breaks and finishing time. Anyone not obeying the rules and misbehaving in any way was reprimanded. That school was turned round from being one with a bad reputation to one where pupils were well-behaved. Proving that discipline fairly given out works. Youngsters need boundaries, they also need to know the rules are there for a reason.
Do you have any experience of this and what is your opinion, if any, of zero tolerance? Is it generally a good or bad thing to have?
I think I might be over qualified to pass judgement on this one … I was an incurable truant and had my own social worker.
If a kid’s determined to make trouble I doubt meditation is going to convince them to change.
Yes, parents should discipline their own children and from a young age. Youngsters should know how to behave themselves when starting school, leaving the teachers to do what they are employed to do which is teach. All too often though that doesn’t happen, leading to unruly pupils ruining it for those who do want to learn. Sometimes these unruly pupils are backed up by the parents when they are made aware of what punishment might have been given out. I’ve seen this with my own family members so know it’s often a problem.
The headline in the paper and the way it’s worded is a bit cheeky and designed to garner a negative reaction.
There is some evidence that meditation can work in school settings. I briefly tried it with some of my unruly classes at times, and you’d be amazed how a calm couple of minutes at the start of a lesson really can make a difference.
So, as mad and commie pinko as it sounds, don’t knock it completely out of court based on a knee-jerk reaction.
Yes, I take your point. As it happens I was a single parent and that was not easy. That said, my kids were very helpful. We even had a bunch of them over to help with their homework. Maybe I was just lucky.
Talking of wayward behaviour. Seems I’ve been put into some kind of mode which limits how much and what I can post. No piccies allowed, only 5 posts per thread, can’t start new threads etc.
So, looks like Mr Dextrous needs to put himself on detention and/or meditate.
Not really a viable way to exist on a chatty community forum.
In my boarding school from 11yrs 5 months, discipline was mostly inferred and if anyone in a class stepped out of line, the whole class would pay the price. It did not take long for all the pupils to realise what that meant and how the rest of the class would ensure that particular rule breaking did not happen again. Everyone swiftly learned and it was actually very effective to the point everyone seemed fairly happy with their time there. It certainly served me well and set me up for life in the outside world well equipped to take it on.
… but I can’t identify the track
