Author notes

Research Profile: Detention

blntmaker

on May 24, 2007

Detention is an intermediate form of student discipline that is used in schools around the world. Authorized by teachers and often times, school administrators, a student must serve an undetermined amount of time in a room that is distraction-free. Under the supervision of a teacher or school security official, this period of time is carried out either during breaks in the middle of the school day, after school or most commonly, on a Saturday.
During detention time, a student is often engaged in disciplinary or non-disciplinary activities usually geared towards alleviating tediousness or to allow for self-reflection of behavior. These activities include essay writing (with a particular theme and word count requirement), housekeeping/community service duties such as campus trash pick up or graffiti clean up, and finally, the repetitive writing of "lines" (Writing a phrase for an unspecified amount of times, which relates to the committed offense).
Detention policies are created by district officials and enforced or used at the discretion on a school-by-school basis.