Suspension in boarding schools

[justcarol67]

Carol earlier:
> Personally, I think [in-house suspension is] a better idea than normal suspension, which does get the student out of the teacher's hair for a few days but inconveniences the parents and does nothing to deter the student from being suspended again. He may even consider it a reward.

Brian responded: 
> Carol, you're missing the significance of a (normal) suspension in a British boarding school.  Being sent home isn't likely to be for a few days, and is likely to be a final warning before explusion, basically giving parents a chance to make it clear to their son or daughter the seriousness of their situation.

Carol:
I hope you mean the student's situation though it sounds as if you mean the parents'! (If a kid is that badly behaved, though, I don't know if the parents could get through to him. Maybe they'd say "If you can't behave at Eton, it's Stonewall High for you!")

Brian: 
> Another, more common punishment, might be gating or loss of privileges. Gating (not all schools use the same name for this) means you re not allowed out of school grounds for any reason - no popping out to the sweet shop or meeting local girls - no days or trips out .  In my school this was enforced by the fact that your clothes were taken away and you had to spend the whole time in pyjamas.  This was also to prevent the person doing a bunk (i.e. running away home.)

> Needless to say, some of us organised ways to get around this.  Our school had as one of its clubs, an "education committee" of which I was chairman.  We used school funds to buy (among other things) maps, railway timetables etc., and we also collected quite a stock of second hand clothing.
> 
> Loss of privileges meant no taking part in any non curricular  activities, no using the school pool, no TV, early bedtimes., etc., no access to any sweets that might have been sent to you or your pocket money.  It would usually include chores as well.

Carol:
Thanks, Brian. I guess I'm thinking of suspension as it's practiced in the U.S. public schools. I don't know of any (modern) kid who takes it seriously. (In my day, we'd have considered it a disgrace, but that was another era altogether.)

I still think that in-house suspension (or "gating" or any similar punishment that keeps the student on school grounds but suspends privileges and requires the kid to do his school work) is a better idea than sending him home, especially given the burden on the parents. If all else fails, of course, there's what the counselors call logical consequences. If the kid doesn't do the work, he fails the class. (It doesn't seem to work that way at Hogwarts, though.)

Carol, who still wonders what suspension amounts to at Hogwarts since we never see it (even the expelled Hagrid remains on the school grounds)