Discipline in Schools

[Cindy C.]

Hi,

My fourth grader came home from school with an interesting tale 
today.  

She started complaining about her teacher, calling her "mean."  I 
asked what Mrs. K had done that was mean.  She said that a girl got 
in trouble for failing to listen.  Apparently, the kids were getting 
ready to leave for the day, and they were supposed to put their 
chairs on their desks.  It seems that this girl moved to quickly and 
didn't wait for the "chairs on desk" command.  

The punishment is that the girl was made to stand holding the chair 
at chest level for about a minute.  I've never heard of this in 
schools.  Is it a typical and recommended punishment?  I did raise 
an eyebrow because I believe that prisoners of war are tortured by 
requiring them to hold a heavy object to muscle failure.

Don't worry, I'm not gonna make trouble.  I like and support this 
teacher, and a little discipline never hurt anyone.  But I was 
wondering what is and is not permitted by way of discipline in 
schools these days.

Whatever the current policy is, it can't be worse than the military 
base schools I attended for a while.  They paddled kids in front of 
the class and taped their mouths shut during recess for talking too 
much.  

But I *outsmarted* them, see?  I pulled the edge of the tape up so I 
could talk out of the corner of my mouth.  ;-)

Cindy -- who was forced to drink her milk with lunch as a kid 
although she was *allergic* to it, and who remembers that we weren't 
allowed to *talk* during lunch in the cafeteria