10 Most Common Ways in Which Teachers Punish Students

“TELL YOUR DAD TO MEET ME IN MY OFFICE TOMORROW AND BE READY WITH AN EXPLANATION FOR THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR.”Sounds familiar! Doesn’t it? Certainly pictures of your classroom and your cranky teacher who used to derive sadistic pleasure by punishing you must be flashing in your mind. It surely runs a chill down your spine and gives you a brain-wracking day. It is so powerful that it can make you cancel the long-awaited hangout plan in a jiffy. At times, it makes us cry and at other times it makes us laugh. YES, I am talking about the most dreaded ‘P’ word on Earth-“PUNISHMENT”.

As much as we hate it, all of us have experienced it at some or the other point in our lives and there is nothing better than school to teach us the cycle of punishments and rewards. Punishments last long; they generate an indelible impression on our lives and help us in differentiating right from wrong. However, nobody in this world can match up to your school teacher in devising new techniques to punish you. Bet to disagree? They have the caliber to conceive of dramatic ways to punish you which you couldn’t have imagined in the wildest of your dreams. Perhaps, this is an inherent teacher thing which, we, students are unable to comprehend. Not done your homework? Get ready to be beaten up black and blue. I am sure you might recall numerous ways in which your teachers have punished you. Here are the

10 most common ways in which teachers punish students. So, tighten up your seat belts and get ready to go down the memory lane…

10. Impositions

Being assigned to write, “I will not talk in class”, 100 times, neatly, on lined paper, is a punishment that really gets to your nerves.! You just cannot get away with this one by any means. It makes your hands go fatigued and also makes you suffer humiliation at the hands of the class.....

9. Taking away privileges

Whenever a fun trip or a movie is organized, the mischievous students are singled out and not allowed to go along with the class missing out on all the fun and excitement. This is a serious and effective punishment that can transform a student’s naughty devil-like mind into an angelic one so that he/she does not miss out on the trip and get bored at home the next time.

8. Physical Punishments

These are some of the best kinds of punishment given to the whole class together making it a rather fun-filled experience than a punishment. I still miss these punishments that we used to get in school and the way we enjoyed and laughed together while standing in punishment. “United we stand, Divided we fall” used to be the class’s mantra. Be it standing on the benches or hands in the air or even bags on our heads, we braved it all together. Witnessing ear pulls as well as hair pulls was a common routine.The teacher’s frustrated face used to make us giggle aggravating her anger and irritation.

7.  Kneeling down on the floor

There are several types of corporal punishments that the students have to face in school. Once the teacher’s wrath is earned, nobody is spared. Moreover, this one seems to be the teacher’s personal favorite! My math teacher used to make us squat on the floor all the while holding our ears. This particular punishment was better displayed on the school ground for all the students to see and snigger on, with the crackling sun rays radiating their warmth sucking out all the energy from our imbecile bodies. However, the sheer fear of this punishment made us regular in doing our maths homework.

6. Time Out from Class

Get Out of My Class! I do not want to see your face. Remember your Teacher’s words? I can not understand what a purpose getting out can serve, but it was  a very good punishment for most problems, especially for the students.I loved it! One can even roam out of the class while in the punishment as the teacher hardly notices. I still wonder if this seriously is a punishment!

5. Public Humiliation

Teachers are definitely the people who can devise plans to humiliate you in the worst possible ways. Public humiliation can teach the students toughest lessons in the easiest way. Imagine yourself standing in punishment in front of the class of your crush or our boyfriend. Sitting on the floor in front of the principal’s office from where the whole school passes can make you numb with shame. Moreover, your friends pass comments and laugh at you. Their laughter is often accompanied  with comic remarks.

4. Detention

Making a student stay back after school or during lunch time to do extra work. This was very common in my school. An entire day in the class doing nothing at all and wondering how to get out. This one was similar to getting detained in a jail and pondering over ways to get out just like a mischievous criminal. I never understood why the teacher took the biggest problem makers and gave them a way to get out of class. This punishment was my favorite way of getting rid of the teacher and studies and getting away with any act of meanness.

3. Calling parents

I dreaded this the most. Parents are not supposed to know of your antics in school. Facing your parents in front of your teacher is a child’s nightmare. It is the most formidable thing that a student can experience. We used to beg our teachers for not calling our parents and could do anything in exchange. However, most of the times our pleas fell on deaf ears. We had to face humiliation not only in school but also at home. Everything, right from our hangouts to our telephonic conversations was snapped.

2. Principal’s Office

Another dreadful punishment that has the potential to leave you in tears. Walking down the empty hallway to the big boss of the school is normally enough to calm down most kids. Plus, Parents were usually called, making the trip to the office even more foreboding. Who can forget the constant threats of suspension and expulsion? Your world seems to come to an end once you are in the principal’s office. Heart seems to throb at a faster rate and the brain keeps on churning new excuses in order to get rid of the punishment and the scolding. Your breath becomes heavy and limbs become numb. Surely, the school principal is equivalent to a devil in a child’s dream. Fingers remain crossed lest you should get that punishment.

1. SLAP!

You get hit and then you cry. I have been lucky enough as I haven’t experienced this one. However, I have been a witness to such incidents where the teacher cracks students across the knuckles for bad behavior or gives a ruler strike across the palms. I would term corporal punishment as the WORST form of punishment ever because it takes a toll on your personality and can tear through your self-confidence and esteem. Undoubtedly, punishment remoulds our character and shapes our lives but excessive, harsh and cruel punishment can take away the essence of that very character and make us meek, timid and docile. Punishments can result in stunted Psychological growth at times.

Dear teachers,
we need love not punishments. We learn better when we are treated with care, compassion and affection. Please keep that ruler at bay and embrace the tools of love and understanding. There are other ways of making us follow only if you follow those better ways. I am sure with mutual understanding and trust we can together make the classroom a much better place. School will not be feared in the generations to come if we- You and Me cooperate with each other.