Is suspension really a punishment?

[SchrodingersMeerkat]

I mean for very young children? Like kindergarten through 6th grade? In high school, I can see how suspension might be a punishment but for a grade schooler? After I had been suspended the first time and got to stay home from school, I CONSTANTLY was trying to get in trouble in order to get suspended again. My parents never let me watch TV or anything like that on the day I was suspended, but it didn't matter I was happy to be home, away from bullies.

I think the school did catch on because I did once receive an in-school suspension and that wasn't as bad as they made it out to be either. I was just in a supply classroom for most of the day, doing my usual schoolwork and a supply teacher would come in now and then to check on me. Again, I was by myself and away from the bullies so I actually kind of enjoyed it. So

Anyway, is suspension actually a punishment FOR the student who doesn't want to be there in the first place?

 

[Mr Allen]

It can be, some of the younger ones actually like school and would go at weekends if they could.

Me though, I hated every second of senior school and when the bell rang at 4 o'clock I couldn't wait to get out of there, especially on Thursdays when it was double maths, heck knows what Mrs Bradley saw in Mr Bradley, he was one of the most boring teachers in the whole school IMO, plus he looked like a younger version of the late Des Lynam, same kind of moustache and hairdo.

 

[Judge]

I've never been quite sure whether suspension was really more of a punishment for the student or actually for their parents.

 

[Gritches]

I got suspended all the time, both out of school and in-school suspension, and I loved it either way because it got me away from the bullies. So for kids like me, it was the exact opposite of a punishment. I never understood the logic behind it, how exactly is it a punishment? I didn't even have to do schoolwork for in-school, I'd just draw or read all day.

 

[kay]

How did you figure out how to get suspended? I wish I'd figured out the whole suspension thing. Sounds like it would have been fun. In school suspension in high-school would have been worse than just going to class. Basement room with no natural light and a large collection of kids I preferred to avoid. But if I could have worked out some at home suspension I would have been a very happy kid. Wish I had found a way to get expelled, that would have saved me years of misery.

 

[the_tortoise]

Wish I had found a way to get expelled, that would have saved me years of misery.

Unless they sent you to a school program that was even worse.....

 

[SchrodingersMeerkat]

How did you figure out how to get suspended? I wish I'd figured out the whole suspension thing. Sounds like it would have been fun. In school suspension in high-school would have been worse than just going to class. Basement room with no natural light and a large collection of kids I preferred to avoid. But if I could have worked out some at home suspension I would have been a very happy kid. Wish I had found a way to get expelled, that would have saved me years of misery.

I think I would just start random fights. No one believed me when I didn't instigate a fight and I was always told that the bullying was my fault somehow; so I figured it wouldn't matter if I had actually had been the instigator.

 

[kay]

I guess I was just too quiet and passive. I never got into a fight. Kids weren't nice to me but it was just name calling and rude remarks, ect rather than hitting me or anything. Don't remember responding to any of it. Guess I should have smacked 'em.

 

[paloftoon]

Sometimes, the idea of suspension is just the fact that the entity is willing to do something to show that there is concern for liability. Such as, even if it's not a punishment to you, it might not make sense for the entity to not attempt to address a situation in some manner. Sometimes, it's all in the actions themselves rather than the actual results they produce.

it is unfortunate that the issue of bullying is not what was actually addressed in some cases. in some cases, there's definitely two sides to the story rather than just one.

 

[pjcnet]

Suspension isn't just to punish the child, it's also to prevent them from disrupting other children. For most children who dislike school it's often not a good punishment on it's own, so it's then the parents responsibility to suitably punish them, but unfortunately not all parents do a good enough job to make suspension a punishment much worse than attending school normally and some children may even prefer it.

I absolutely hated school and always counted down the time until the end of each day, weekends and most of all school holidays, but I knew that if I got suspended and it was my fault, my parents would have made my life a living hell, so it wasn't contemplated. I did however get suspended after being bullied and having various melt downs after my parents kept forcing me to attend a normal senior school (comprehensive school) in the UK against all expert advice, but the head teachers at the school said that it wasn't my fault stating that the staff simply didn't have the training and experience needed to deal with my special needs, so my parents didn't give me a hard time while I was at home. Instead they argued with the school who kept agreeing for me to go back there after a couple of days even though my life there was an absolute misery. I had a horrid time.

For some children a real punishment would be to be sent somewhere such as a boot camp or similar, rather than just being sent home, something like that would prove a good deterrent for many disruptive children. Unfortunately however without either parental consent which they may or may not get, or a juvenile court enforcement order (only likely if they were convicted of a crime) a school wouldn't be-able to send a disruptive child somewhere like this even if such a place was available, and there's always situations where the school could be in the wrong and therefore should a school alone be-able to enforce harsh justice such as this anyway?

 

[SchrodingersMeerkat]

I guess I was just too quiet and passive. I never got into a fight. Kids weren't nice to me but it was just name calling and rude remarks, ect rather than hitting me or anything. Don't remember responding to any of it. Guess I should have smacked 'em.

I would do more than just "smack". One boy kept putting his fingers in my face and saying, "Bite me! Bite me!" and when I tried to get away from him, he would just follow me, so I obliged him. He then ran to the teacher, making it into a bigger deal than it actually was about how I bit him. I got suspended for a few weeks and missed the last few weeks of school. It honestly did feel like a vacation and I think I even stopped wetting the bed for a while. When I came back the next year, that kid avoided me like the plague. The next year, I heard a kid talking about me behind my back and body slammed him against a wall, the teacher grabbed my arm to escort me to the principal's office. She gripped so tight, she practically cut off circulation. I begged her to let go and she wouldn't. I panicked and bit her. It turns out she left a bruise. I got suspended for body slamming the boy, but the teacher almost lost her job for leaving a bruise. But then I lived in a Rust Belt hick down where it was impossible to get a union worker like a school teacher fired.

 

[kay]

I would do more than just "smack". One boy kept putting his fingers in my face and saying, "Bite me! Bite me!" and when I tried to get away from him, he would just follow me, so I obliged him. He then ran to the teacher, making it into a bigger deal than it actually was about how I bit him. I got suspended for a few weeks and missed the last few weeks of school. It honestly did feel like a vacation and I think I even stopped wetting the bed for a while. When I came back the next year, that kid avoided me like the plague. The next year, I heard a kid talking about me behind my back and body slammed him against a wall, the teacher grabbed my arm to escort me to the principal's office. She gripped so tight, she practically cut off circulation. I begged her to let go and she wouldn't. I panicked and bit her. It turns out she left a bruise. I got suspended for body slamming the boy, but the teacher almost lost her job for leaving a bruise. But then I lived in a Rust Belt hick down where it was impossible to get a union worker like a school teacher fired.

Yuk, did the kid taste bad? I was way to little to body slam anyone and too picky an eater to bite.

 

[onlything]

I wonder if the teachers knew, I would get suspended.

I was verbally bullied since the beginning of school but that was just talking. Hurting and annoying but just talking. Then my stuff started missing, getting damaged, these things, sometimes I would see it, so I knew who did it. But when they tried to do something physical, just a case of public humiliation really, I just... snapped and beat them really badly, stomach, legs, hands mostly. It was impulsive, cold, methodical. Didn't feel much at the time, more like putting a bug in place. Maybe because I already 'hated their guts'. Or maybe my brain connected it to previous sexual abuse and lashed out. Well, they were scared of me after that, no one said anything to the teachers either and they left me alone, so all good and happy.

Just realised I probably would have got into some big trouble if teachers knew.

 

[onlything]

I would do more than just "smack". One boy kept putting his fingers in my face and saying, "Bite me! Bite me!" and when I tried to get away from him, he would just follow me, so I obliged him. He then ran to the teacher, making it into a bigger deal than it actually was about how I bit him. I got suspended for a few weeks and missed the last few weeks of school. It honestly did feel like a vacation and I think I even stopped wetting the bed for a while. When I came back the next year, that kid avoided me like the plague. The next year, I heard a kid talking about me behind my back and body slammed him against a wall, the teacher grabbed my arm to escort me to the principal's office. She gripped so tight, she practically cut off circulation. I begged her to let go and she wouldn't. I panicked and bit her. It turns out she left a bruise. I got suspended for body slamming the boy, but the teacher almost lost her job for leaving a bruise. But then I lived in a Rust Belt hick down where it was impossible to get a union worker like a school teacher fired.

Got what he asked for.

 

[Lydiasaurus]

It wouldn't have been a punishment for me, I hated school!

what? you mean as punishment for doing something wrong, you're saying I'm not allowed to go to school for x number of weeks, how terrible!

 

[SchrodingersMeerkat]

It wouldn't have been a punishment for me, I hated school!

what? you mean as punishment for doing something wrong, you're saying I'm not allowed to go to school for x number of weeks, how terrible!

Yes, absolutely tragic. I was quite looking forward to Martha tripping me in the halls and I will definitely miss Mrs. Jenkins berating me for not being "normal" and singling me out and blaming me for things I had no control of. I loved being screamed at "I already explained it! It's not my fault if you weren't listening to me the first time, you little brat!" when I WAS listening to the teacher the first time she explained it. So sad I won't be able to experience it for X number of weeks.

 

[Mathalamus]

suspensions were never a punishment to me, but, i didnt go out of my way to get myself suspended. i just simply refused to go to school if i didn't want to.

 

[SchrodingersMeerkat]

suspensions were never a punishment to me, but, i didnt go out of my way to get myself suspended. i just simply refused to go to school if i didn't want to.

I didn't have a choice. Its not I could have just stayed home. My mom would just have my dad carry me out to the school bus or the truent officer would pay us a visit.

 

[Mathalamus]

i never even heard of a truent officer. ever. the only thing that happened was that the principle yelled at me for taking two thirds of the year off.

i thought it was fair for her to do that, i mean, it was my fault.

 

[Voltaic]

Grade four and five I spent mostly in the office. The only thing that was different was that no one bothered me while I was board out of my mind, so It wasn't bad at all, even preferable.