A midcoast Maine school is trying out a new lesson – disciplining students who step out of line with a pleasant walk in the woods.
No detention.
No suspension.
Instead? A bit of fresh air in coastal Bath, Maine to cleanse the devil within.
The concept of treating scofflaws with a softer, friendlier, breezier, sunnier touch made it’s debut nationally under the Democrat Obama administration and Morse High School counselor Leslie Trundy is giving it a tryout.
Maine Public Radio (of course) had a “field day” featuring the cuddly method of getting bad kids to go straight – time outdoors instead of sitting in an empty classroom after school.
“I yelled at a teacher rudely ‘cause I didn’t feel like doin’ something, and when they tried to make me do it, I got angry and yelled at them,” freshman Nicholas Tanguay told MPR.
“Probably, like, skipping class, or, like, added-up tardies from class. Like, never, like, actually, like, getting in trouble,” sophomore Elsie Nelson-Walling said.
Like, seriously.
Predictably, those who get in trouble love avoiding detention.
Interestingly, many commenters on Reddit (self-admitted scofflaws themselves) also are endorsing hikes vs. staying inside after school.
Others, including a veteran Morse scofflaw, said when he was in school there they also tried the outdoors thingy.
“We did a similar thing when I was at Morse. Only we ripped butts at the gazebo,” said an honest Redditor named Kristos.
Trundy’s heard it all. And then some.
But she’s sticking with it, at least until she decides whether it’s getting kids to correct their behavior or just letting them “rip butts at the gazebo.”
Trundy is figuring time outdoors might encourage kids to open up about the problems they might be experiencing.
“My hope is I can take the skills I have on the trail, and be a listener for them,” she said.
Trundy’s heard criticism from the diehards who believe a walk in the woods is more reward than punishment.
In fact, some strict parents have refused to let their kids take part, maybe thinking their kids might learn more from detention than “ripping butts at the gazebo.”
Trundy is well intended but attentive parents say misbehaving kids disrupting education should bear consequences.
That wasn’t the prevailing sentiment that first began surfacing ten years ago under Obama’s Department of Education.
The department’s Office for Civil Rights actually claimed in a letter that went out to schools nationwide that there was widespread “evidence of racial and ethnic disparities among students assigned to detention.”
So under Obama racial profiling conveniently extended to the detention room.
Playing off the racism angle, the office’s letter offered alternatives to detention and suspension it suggested would be more racially equitable. (Seriously.)
Instead of detention, the department was recommending “restorative practices and positive interventions, such as counseling.”
One suggestion was to create a “reflection room” in lieu of one for detention.
In a reflection room, teachers, administrators, caregivers, and the student go through a “reflective process” to understand the root cause of a conflict and assist the student in understanding and identifying better options.
Let’s all reflect on that while we stroll quietly through the woods on a restorative hike.
