Detention and suspensions simply don’t work. The idea of detentions and suspensions are to be impactful punishments, they are just the opposite: many students do not or cannot serve their detentions, which then turn into suspensions, and many students regard suspensions as more of a vacation rather than a punishment. Instead of getting better behaviors, students are facing harder futures: students in detention are more likely to be held back or drop out, and it doesn’t improve academic performance. Along with that, like most things in schools, it varies wildly from school to school. Detentions and suspensions are ineffective and shouldn’t be used in schools.

One of the biggest problems about detentions is that they aren’t objective. Across the country, African-American students are three to four times as likely to be suspended for school misconduct or disciplined more severely for minor misconduct. There isn’t any evidence to support the idea that it’s because they’re more disobedient, and it isn’t entirely linked to poverty either, which is often used as a common reason for statistics like this. Disciplinary consequences are also not applied equally in ways other than race and can be dependent on something as simple as what your teacher’s attitude is. Even now, with something like the phone policy that was meant to standardize things, teachers still only enforce it if they feel like it. I’ve blatantly used my phone in front of over half my teachers and they don’t care, but some teachers are still writing referrals for cell phone use in class. I can’t even imagine how it is from the disciplinary side of things with trying to keep everything consistent at a school level when teachers handle discipline so differently on an individual level.

Policies like this don’t address the issue at hand. Behavioral issues that lead to suspensions or detentions are often a result of situations at home, like unstable parenting or living situations. Punishing these students isn’t going to magically make that better. In fact, it will probably just make their situation worse. Studies have found that detentions and suspensions do not increase a student’s performance academically, and even decreases academic performance in some cases. I’d recommend that teachers talk to students first before immediately jumping to disciplinary action. Figure out why they’re acting out, don’t just assume. 

A different idea that schools have implemented is focused on preventing behavioral issues by giving students the resources to avoid situations that lead to them acting out, rather than punishing them after the fact. Another answer might be talking to the families of students and seeing what support might be available. These are just two options, but there are many more that have been supported by research and implemented all over the country. School detentions and suspensions don’t fix issues; it’s time for the system as a whole to stop using them.