Punishment is an ancient practice, used to correct wrongdoings and inspire society to do the right or legal thing. Occasionally, however, the crime does not match the punishment. The updated detention policy, which mandates a detention after five tardies instead of 10, is one of these instances. The current system is too harsh; students’ busy schedules require more flexible rules.
Compared to last year, the number of detentions students are serving has increased. However, increased detentions does not mean a lasting impact in students’ routines.
Punishments are most effective when they show the offender what they did was wrong. But since being late is often an accident, punishment will not change behavior.
Additionally, the system increasingly punishes students who live farther away and face unforeseeable factors in their journey to school, even when they plan ahead. A typical 25-minute drive can quickly turn into 40 minutes with a crash on the highway or a construction zone.
Younger students are typically driven by a parent or carpool; it is unfair to blame a student for adult planning.Some students take public transportation, which runs on a schedule completely out of the user’s control. Students should be focused on securely getting to school, not driving dangerously or putting other drivers at risk to arrive on time.
Safety is more important than tardiness, and this should be reflected in the school rules.
Although lateness to morning advisory is the primary cause of tardies, packed tutorials and X-periods can also cause tardiness for other classes. Clubs and affinity groups are scheduled during X-periods without much passing time. If a club runs long or needs time to clean up an activity, the student shouldn’t be penalized for being involved in a group. Music rehearsals are also held during tutorials, and students are often late to their following classes. Since not all students are a part of clubs and affinity groups, getting punished for being late to the next class could discourage students from participating in one of the groups.
Assuming there are 150 school days per semester, being tardy five times per semester or 10 times yearly is approximately a 3% late rate to class. Students should be given empathy when being marked tardy and subsequently punished.
Still, a system to correct lateness is necessary for student with serious difficulties in arriving on time. Teachers either need to give a two to four minute margin for lateness, or the administration needs to bring back the 10 tardies to a detention rule.
Students shouldn’t reap the consequences of their family members’ actions. Students could involuntarily move further away; siblings could wake up late or go to a different school; parents may have a demanding work schedule and be unable to drive their kids on time. Students’ desire to participate in an extracurricular group is not a reason for discipline.
Families may not know that they are able to excuse their child’s tardiness. This administrative practice offers flexibility to the “Lateness to School” policy in the Student Handbook, but it is vague and leaves questions about what constitutes a valid reason for lateness or how many tardies can be excused without detention being issued. For this practice to be properly implemented, there must be more clarity in the available information.
Despite all other external factors of lateness, the overwhelming issue is that detention won’t stop students from being late.
Most kids are late unintentionally, and many factors are out of their control. Punishing a student for something they already know is wrong is pointless, unless it’s a serious issue with a student’s attendance, as 10 tardies would indicate. The five-tardy system is not reasonable and requires a change.
UPDATE 10/27: An additional paragraph was added to the opinion to recognize that administration offers some flexibility in the policy.
