Is the bridge centre punishment enough?

This edition focuses on the litter that is destroying our environment.  During our newspaper discussions, a proposal was made that perhaps students in the Bridge Centre and school detentions should do something productive around school instead of writing lines or completing arbitrary work. This got us thinking; should students in Bridge and school detention be made to complete community service and pick up litter around the school site instead?
​
In conversation with another student, who will remain anonymous, said that this was a good idea, and that it would be more stimulating and entertaining then doing work in bridge. A lot of the other students in the group seemed to agree with them. We asked seven (some wish to stay anonymous) members of staff their opinions on this, and the only staff members that we asked who disagreed was Mrs Collins of the French department, who said and “it doesn’t add to their education” and “they still have a right to their education”. 

However, Mrs Mitchell, Head of Geography said that she ‘absolutely’ agreed and commented that “sometimes pupils who misbehave in lesson it’s because they find it difficult to focus in the first place so then putting them in a room and expecting them to focus for long periods of time is almost expecting them to fail.  Giving them something active to do outside, gives them the opportunity to succeed”.  She said she would see it as rehabilitation, not punishment. This isn’t an exact quote, but a teacher that wished to stay anonymous said, that “some students that are always in the bridge centre would at least be assisting the community by litter picking”.

Clearly we needed to investigate further so we went to the Bridge Centre and asked a members of staff about their opinion on this potential new punishment. We were met with a vague answer and a reluctance to give an opinion ‘on the record’, therefore this person shall remain anonymous; “Everything that happens has its own, individual punishment”. ​

They continued to explain that they didn’t believe that it would improve the number of students being sent to the Bridge Centre, or improve grades.  There was some confusion and contradiction from some members of staff and this intrigued us, therefore we continued to probe others.
​

“[Litter picking] is rehabilitation, not punishment”. Image from Google Images

​A supported of the initiative and one who was willing to put her opinion is print is Mrs Palmer (Events and Publicity Manager).  She seemed to think that it was a good idea, but it “just would never happen”, due to the potential backlash from students and parents alike, and that the school could be accused of child labour.

It was defiantly a difficult subject to cover and people seemed reluctant to speak to us - all of the opinions seemed to be from one extreme or the other.  However, we have reached the conclusion that this would have positive benefits for the school, and would create a cleaner learning environment that would benefit the student body as a whole.  It would just never be allowed, and rightfully so, littering shouldn’t happen in the first place and students still have a certain right to education.
​
Report by Eliana Morgan and Annabelle Smith