So there you are. Sitting in a hard chair, pencil balanced on your nose, gum popping loudly and eyes glued to the clock. The teacher is sitting behind you, eyes staring into your soul. You’re supposed to be thinking about what got you stuck in here, like you’re some toddler being punished for pushing somebody on the playground. Shoes tapping loudly on the floor in annoyance as you glance at the clock, feeling like it hasn’t changed at all in the last ten minutes. Yup, that’s right, you’re in detention, that wonderful place everybody dreams of going to (not).

While many adults can argue that detention actually helps students with their behavior, there are countless studies and students to contradict that belief. “How do you learn anything from what you’ve done when you’re sitting in a chair for an hour?” said Debate.org.  No student walks into detention thinking about their violation in the first place; they’re thinking of how long until they’re free. The concept is very childish; it’s like putting a bunch of high schoolers into one big timeout.

Also detention is not a harsh punishment, just wasting time. It’s kind of like a game. Do something bad and don’t get caught. If you get caught, simply try it differently. “If the staff wants there to be a change in the student’s behavior, then do something that will get the student’s attention,” said Ailee Pearce (10). The school could try punishments like extra homework, a class after school on discipline, or an assigned essay saying what they did wrong and how they’ll fix it. None of those sound fun at all, but it is very likely things like that would provoke a better response from students.

It’s also extremely unfair to give out detentions when people are tardy. Chances are, there’s a reason that student was late. Some people live really far away and it’s hard to get to class on time. Sometimes people just have a bad day and run late. Everyone has done it, even teachers. “Teachers abuse their power sometimes,” said Lexi Miller (9)  It’s extremely unfair to do that and it doesn’t give them much to ‘think about’ in detention.

So the next time you’re sitting in detention, or sending someone to detention, think about how much it won’t help them. If the teachers want a change in behavior, big kid time out won’t do it.