Thread: Fines for breaking school rules?

CHICAGO (AP) — A sense of order and decorum prevails at Noble Street College Prep as students move quickly through a hallway adorned with banners from dozens of colleges. Everyone wears a school polo shirt neatly tucked into khaki trousers. There's plenty of chatter but no jostling, no cellphones and no dawdling.

The reason, administrators say, is that students have learned there is a price to pay — literally — for breaking even the smallest rules.

Noble Network of Charter Schools charges students at its 10 Chicago high schools $5 for detentions stemming from infractions that include chewing gum and having untied shoelaces. Last school year it collected almost $190,000 in discipline "fees" from detentions and behavior classes — a policy drawing fire from some parents, advocacy groups and education experts.

http://news.yahoo.com/chicago-school...202924231.html

I understand its a charter school and all, but charging kids for simple rule breaking is just really dumb IMO. And before anyone drops the "go to public school then" line, there's plenty of public schools that don't fine their students for breaking the smallest rules and they don't have issues. I don't even think colleges do this type of stuff, unless you damage your dorm room.

Why is this policy in their in the first place?

You don't like it, don't do business with them. Or, are you a liberal who wants to force them to do as you want. Unlike a public school, a charter school has to have customers.

You can not fine people and still have a excellent functioning school.

Originally Posted by micfranklin

You can not fine people and still have a excellent functioning school.

Says who? Oh, wait, you can't fine people and have an excellent functioning tax system. You can't fine people and have an excellent functioning healthcare system. You can't fine people and have an excellent functioning recycling system.

That's ridiculous, isn't it. Fines are routinely used to force compliance with rules.

Fines seem to me to be a good idea, although I think the example is a bit severe. Looking at current punishments in schools I've seen, high schools in particular, they don't do what they're meant to. Suspension rarely caused the kids much harm, in fact they seem to love it more than they hate it. Detention isn't much better, just a place to put the kids where they do mostly whatever they want, and wastes the teacher's time. In some schools, kids find detention preferable to going home - depending on the state of their home life. Besides, it would prepare them more for the real world, where fining is the most common punishment for breaking even minor laws.

Originally Posted by micfranklin

I understand its a charter school and all, but charging kids for simple rule breaking is just really dumb IMO. And before anyone drops the "go to public school then" line, there's plenty of public schools that don't fine their students for breaking the smallest rules and they don't have issues. I don't even think colleges do this type of stuff, unless you damage your dorm room.

The effectiveness can be judged by the outcomes. If discipline increases than it is effective and this practice ought to be adopted everywhere. And charter school are optional so your complaint is largely moot. Parents can take their business elsewhere or go to a public school, they have the freedom to do so.

Personally it would be cheaper and more effective to just go back to the days of paddling a student in my opinion. But now we have to worry more about a kids self esteem than his educational quality and the environment it takes place in. A big mistake with decades of evidence.

Originally Posted by Gemini_Fyre

The effectiveness can be judged by the outcomes. If discipline increases than it is effective and this practice ought to be adopted everywhere. And charter school are optional so your complaint is largely moot. Parents can take their business elsewhere or go to a public school, they have the freedom to do so.

Personally it would be cheaper and more effective to just go back to the days of paddling a student in my opinion. But now we have to worry more about a kids self esteem than his educational quality and the environment it takes place in. A big mistake with decades of evidence.

A little hyperbolic, but have you ever read Death Note?

Yeah, a little long winded. But no, I haven't read Death Note. What's it about?

Originally Posted by Gemini_Fyre

Yeah, a little long winded. But no, I haven't read Death Note. What's it about?

http://www.mangareader.net/113-4017-...chapter-1.html

Long story short, Light (Main character) can kill anyone he wants to by just writing that person's name down. He decides to kill criminals to make the world a better place.