Classroom Management | Nov 11, 2013
Should teachers use collective punishment?
By Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
Should teachers use collective punishment?
By Angela Watson
Alright, that’s it. You guys can’t handle this activity, we’re shutting it down right now. Everybody, clean up. It’s over.”
Chances are, you’ve spoken words like that to your students at some point. You’ve given way too many warnings for the kids to get on task, quiet down, and/or get to work, and the classroom is still too chaotic. There are lots of students who aren’t following the rules, and rather than try to single out which 10 or 15 it is, you issue a consequence to the whole class. Everyone loses the privilege, and everyone suffers the consequences of the bad decisions made by part of the group.
Whole class or collective punishment is despised by students, who inevitably whine, “It’s not faaaaair!” Why should the students who were doing the right thing be punished because other students were not?
I used a lot of whole class consequences as a new teacher because they were the easiest way for me to handle misbehavior. When I was crunched for time and totally overwhelmed, it was so much simpler to just issue a mass consequence for everyone than to try to sort out who was actually in the wrong and address the root of the problem.
Over the years, I started noticing just how devastating group punishments can be to the type of child who wants to please and is determined to follow the rules. I can think of at least one child in every class who cried when recess or a field trip or even just center time was taken away because his or her classmates were disruptive. At the time, I was so focused on stopping the misbehaviors that I just didn’t have the energy to give much thought to the kids who were doing the right thing. I felt bad for them, sure, but on a practical level, what exactly was I supposed to do when I had 10 minutes to ensure every student had mastered a skill and half the class seemed determined to thwart any type of learning?
It was the parent of a sweet little eight-year-old named Morgan who finally made me re-examine my practices. I adored both Morgan and her mother, and we had established a great rapport during the first few weeks of the school year. One morning in September, the mom called me and said Morgan couldn’t sleep the night before. I had taken away a privilege from the entire class (I wish I could remember now what it was) and Morgan was convinced I was mad at her. She was terrified to face me that day in school and couldn’t figure out what she had done wrong. Her mom told me, “I kept insisting to her that she must have broken a rule somehow, that she wouldn’t have lost the privilege if she’d done nothing wrong. I asked her over and over was she SURE she had done what you’d asked, and she was sobbing, saying she knew she had. She laid awake all night long trying to figure out what she’d done wrong.”
I was sitting at my desk during that phone call, totally stressed out and surrounded by stacks of papers that needed to be graded, lessons that needed to be written, and projects that needed to be organized. But everything fell away at that moment and my heart broke a little bit for Morgan. Clearly I hadn’t done a great job communicating to her and the rest of the class why the privilege was taken away. I hadn’t talked about how the whole class needs to work as a team, and when part of the group falters, sometimes they all have to suffer the consequences. Instead, I’d left Morgan–and undoubtedly a few others–wondering how they contributed to the problem and why they deserved to miss out on something fun.
I can’t say I completely stopped using whole class consequences after that day. But you better believe I thought twice before doing it again. I worked a lot harder at building a sense of classroom community and teaching students about the effects their choices had on their classmates. I also made sure I clearly spelled out consequences in advance (“If I have to stop the activity 3 times because it’s too noisy in here, we will all need to clean up early”) instead of blindsiding students by applying a consequence out of anger.
I never came up with an approach to collective punishment that I felt completely comfortable with. And so I thought I’d bring up the topic here. Do you use group punishments with your class? How do you apply consequences or take away privileges in a way that’s manageable for you but fair to all your students?
EDITED FEBRUARY 2020: This article is 7 years old and discussions are no longer being monitored. The comment section is closed.
Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
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Punish everyone. Then after everything is under control start letting the good kids out of the punishment. After doing this a few times, the good kids know they will be off punishment soon.
Kids will not line up quietly to go somewhere, let the good kids go ahead. They are the good kids. They will not misbehave without you. I taught 21 years. These things work.
I agree that if a collective punishment must be used, it’s a good idea to restore the privilege to the students who were following the rules as soon as possible.
But if they were following the rules, why punish them at all? If we as teachers can pick out the kids who were following the rules, then we didn’t need to punish them, and if we can’t pick those kids out, then when we release them from punishment early, we’re just picking our favorites or the kids who normally behave. Does that make sense? That’s how it seemed to work when I did it in my classroom, and I always felt uncomfortable with it.
What a great question! I hated group punishments as a student so I really try to avoid them as a teacher. I also try whenever I have to give a group “lecture” to always say something like “Some of you have been…..” or “Thank you to all who are doing _____, but those who are not should…..” I never want the kids who are doing right to feel like they’re being lumped in with everyone else.
However, there are times when we have to suspend activities or privileges because the class as a whole cannot handle them. As you said, this is a good opportunity to teach that our actions affect those around us. I try to avoid this as much as possible, though, to not portray it as a punishment, and to acknowledge that there were some students who were not contributing to the problem.
Well said, Linda. Thanking the students who follow the rules is so important. They deserve attention, as well.
I teach preschool and every once in a while collective punishment seems to be the most necessary approach to call the attention to bad behavior that a majority of the students are part of. One of the things I work really hard on is teaching my students to make good choices and use their words to help their friends make good choices too. I have had times where one behavior was started by one student and rather than the other students stopping the wrong behavior they join in as well. I think, as with any behavior, that the consequence should match the wrong behavior whenever possible as well as help the student to make better choices- whether it be with an individual student or as a whole class if everyone can learn from it.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply, Sarah. The situation you describe in which students mimic each other’s bad behavior is definitely one where collective punishment might be useful. Specifically, I can envision shutting down the activity, having students stop to reflect on their choices, and then resume.
Collective punishment is sometimes necessary to restore immediate order. But I like the idea of restoring privileges that have been removed, only to those who were not involved in the misdemeanor. I have to ask a few things, though. When you were a child in school and collective punishment was used, how did you feel? Or do you even remember it? It was used many times in my school and I don’t remember it bothering me much, nor did I hate the teacher. Children may feel sad, or upset, but they also need to learn to figure out and handle those feelings. Chances are they will move on. But remember that to some students, (and some parents) everything is unfair, especially if adults tell them that they are sad and should feel it is unfair, instead of asking why it happened. Teachers are under a great deal of stress. They have to teach, rule the class and try to be friends all at the same time.
Another question is this. Should we explain to our students why we are collectively punishing? Can we also explain why we must go through metal detectors to board planes, or why gas is so expensive because of too many gas and dashes going on, or why clothes in our favorite store are so expensive, all because we are all being punished for others’ crimes? It’s a fact of life.
Barb, you raise some great points. I definitely think it’s worth talking to students about this, and the real life examples you have can spark some great discussions.
I am here as a parent trying to understand teachers mindset about this as my son is having a lot of issues with the lack of empathy and classroom management skills of his teachers. I have red many comments, and this one intrigued me the most. It certainly put the wasps in the bottle, cap on so we can observe better. I have had many Barb’s in my school life. I hated them for teaching me my place in the world. I resented them for not helping me with skills that would help me survive. I had to take the abuse from mates, and from my teachers. My mates learnt nothing about empathy and consequences from her. I did not learn acceptance, or negotiation either. Instead, I learnt how to comply quietly. As a child, adolescent and adult, we learnt from our Barbs why not to trust adults to listen to our needs. They were/are too busy runing their own agenda and cruzade. Many teachers I know enjoy the power, and worse yet, thrive over the power struggle between them and their Students. Is there something about society to be learnt while being punished? Absolutely! But what is it, and at what cost? Have any of you practicing teachers asked why misbehavior occuered that day, that time, in that situation? Applying this type of punishment is demeaning of you too. Including your skill as a teachers, but most importantly, of teaching as a proffession. To teach is no to just apply methods, including these of compliance and conformity. It is to inspire to learn, to teach how to learn, and to every extended to put light in opportunities to develop skills of all sorts, including community living.
I don’t use group punishment, but I might stop an activity if too many are off-task. The break might be very brief. We might quickly (1-2 minutes) review the expectations or just do a 1-minute calm down (head down, light off, no talking) or take some deep breaths. I don’t present it as a punishment–just a moment to calm down and reflect individually on expectations. I don’t lecture. I just say, “I noticed that… and it seems like we need to…”
On the other hand, I might stop an activity and apologize by saying “I’m so sorry. This wasn’t a good time for us to do this,” and/or “I need to find a better way for us to do this. This isn’t working out like I had hoped.” I might even tell them what I’m having a problem with and get them to help improve the activity by brainstorming ideas for us to try again later. Sometimes I tell them I need to confer with my online teacher friends. 😀
I love this, Diane! What a lovely classroom community you have created. Thank you for sharing!