School detention for forgetting a ruler?

This will be a bit of a rant, but I'm starting to feel like I'm all for a detention for forgetting equipment. I'm a secondary school teacher (on my day off) and yesterday in one Year 8 lesson there were 5 students who arrived without pens (after lunch, so not the first lesson of the day), 3 who wanted to borrow a ruler to underline the date and title, 2 who asked to borrow a pencil. Each of these asked me at separate points. Two of the pen students had just sat there and not even bothered to ask for ten minutes until I noticed they hadn't done the title, date and first task at which point they said "I don't have a pen" - one of them in a tone that heavily implied this was my fault.

Each time it roughly took me around 30 seconds to pause what I was doing, locate a spare piece of equipment (we lend out so bloody much and I share a classroom so things aren't always where I would leave them!) and give it to the student. So that was around 5 minutes of a 60 minute lesson just dealing with equipment issues.

Later on we self marked in green, and I got the pot of green pens out and then we spent two minutes all getting those handed out too. Students are meant to have their own, but I gave up that battle a very long time ago.

It drives me absolutely mad because something to write with is ESSENTIAL, and yet so many students just don't bring one. Or they do, but leave it somewhere. And we obviously have to give them one to write with, because otherwise they can't do anything! The rulers and pencil I suppose could have said no to the borrowing requests - but I do want them to do their work neatly, and until there's a big push on equipment and organisation again at my school, it's like swimming against the tide. We loose loads of equipment each week as students don't give it back. I can write down names as they borrow it, but that takes even more time...

Basically much as I would really dislike enforcing it, I feel that the super punitive 'detention for one missing piece of equipment' would probably improve things hugely as I strongly suspect most learners would organise themselves far more effectively than they are doing currently in my school!!

(Should add that I never begrudge lending a pen to a child who is clearly having an off day and has forgotten something for the first time ever, and always give students with SEND the benefit of the doubt...)

Respectfully, buying a few spare rulers is surely not going to impact hugely on the budget. Could the PTA do a fund raiser.

The outcomes of the constant surveillance and punishments over minor things is surely eating in to the budgets of schools more coping with the huge increase in mental health issues, school avoidance etc. It is short sighted and schools need to use their imagination on these issues, look at the bigger picture and the damaging impacts such cultures are having. I work with schools so I am not unaware of the budgetary constraints but many of the rules I see in the schools I work for our as ridiculous and time consuming as this! It is the same in my DD's school. Teenagers/children are human beings not just an assessment figure or a behaviour/reward mark!

I was dreadful with library books. We'd get a fine of something like 5p a day, but the lady was always nice and capped it at £1 (gives you an idea of how bad I was...). At the end of each term they'd leave a box out for an amnesty and you could put late library books in with no fine and no telling off.

We didn't get detention for forgetting equipment either. It does seem to me that schools have gone a bit nuts on discipline, especially as my school had no behavioural issues whatsoever.

DS got a detention as his compass broke!
I did complain about that one..

Our school library had a huge number of unreturned books last year, I can't remember the number but when you looked at the cost it was immense.

From the teachers perspective, I gave spare equipment but invariably students will intentionally damage it, break rulers, show no care. I'm in a nice area and it's not a rough school. I count stuff in and out as it also gets packed away and then the next lesson not returned so my supply reduces.

For frequent flyers of forgotten equipment I will first contact home to get parental support to help remind them to pack stuff, if it still doesn't improve then it is a detention. Yes more effort for me but my spare equipment stash comes out of my pocket and I'm fed up, and can't afford to keep providing this stuff, no budget left for the school to provide it.

How else do you make teenagers start to take responsibility for being organised, yes I do take into account individual needs but on the whole my main issues just can't be bothered.

At the school I work at, if the kids don't have the basic equipment they get a detention. Certain kids (some SEN for example) are on a 'Reasonable Adjustment' list and don't have to do the detection. I don't think there is a detention for forgetting to return library books. I think this is all fair.

But forgetting your laptop isnt the same

If the child had turned up without their entire school bag for the day that would be the equivalent of forgetting your laptop, because they wouldn't be able to do a whole days work.

This is more like the equivalent of turning up to a meeting without a pen and instead of someone passing you one they tell you you have to sit in a meeting room for an hour to teach you not to forget a pen again

I mean you might not forget again but for some people in particular the level of anxiety they would have going into each meeting stressing about their pen would not be conducive to getting the best work out of them

I don't make the rules

I have however unintentionally washed a standard card

Our secondary has standard cards now, they get a mark for missing equipment, incorrect uniform, lost standard cards etc

3 marks equal a detention

Things were very different in the 90s @Goldenbear.
There is a huge funding crisis in schools these days, as has already been pointed out upthread.

Our school pretty much never gives detentions - you’d have to do something “properly” naughty to warrant one. Forgetting stuff just would get an eye roll and you’d borrow something from school / someone else who has extra.

Also no rules on how to walk in corridors and uniform issues they’d just be asked to put it right with no further consequences. Basically they’re expected to behave like adults and are treated as such.

Taking this approach seems to work - there aren’t particularly any behaviour problems and when there are the other kids seem to disapprove and it stops pretty quickly.

(I will admit it’s a small, independent girls school so maybe easier to control a smaller population)

It is OTT, unsure why spares can't be available, perhaps people could donate rulers, I personally have tons of old stationary sitting around. The spares were available in my Grange Hill style London Comp in the 90s, no detentions. If you broke it on purpose, yes detention.It is one of these huge fusses over nothing, incredibly controlling and worsening children's mental health from the constant surveillance and punishments. I wouldn't be punished at work for forgetting a pen so why do this.

When you see it set out like that, it is truly grim. Isolation disrupts their learning but it has needed to be introduced because after school or lunchtime detentions are given for really minor things. If a ruler etc is forgotten several times the suitable reaction is for them to have to report to head of year or some such every day for a week with said equipment. If we have to have isolation at all it should only be for highly disruptive behaviour

My children's school seldom hand out detentions from what I can gather. Definitely no detention for forgetting a ruler. I think the super strict schools are becoming more common. It wouldn't have suited mine they would just feel stressed and anxious.

I think it's warranted. They need to remember to organise themselves and prepare for the day ahead. It shouldn't cause anxiety. If anything, giving them the tools to prepare and plan for the day ahead is part of life skills and should ease their anxiety knowing they have planned ahead and are organised. If they need help with this then help them. When I have to go into the office I have to remember to pack my bag, make sure my laptop and lunch is ready the night before and generally get everything ready so that I turn up the next day ready to work. My employer wouldn't be impressed if I turned up having forgotten my laptop and phone.

I definitely found that public shaming and punishment cured my ADHD and led me to being a shining beacon of organisation for the rest of my life.

Oh no wait, actually it was crippling anxiety and intense internalisation of being a failure which led to a serious suicide attempt at 14 and lifelong self-esteem issues and depression.

@Chocolatebuttonns cross posted!

I have a friend who’s DD has ADHD and her teachers have a stash of stuff for her as part of her “reasonable adjustments” (she has to return them at the end of class). Her anxiety would be through the roof otherwise.

It’s a tough one.

As others have said if it happens regularly it’s a real pain. What happens if none of them can be bothered to remember their stuff?
It sounds like it would be more helpful if you could try and find her some systems that mean she is forgetting less things. A spare set of equipment that stays in her locker at school? Does she use reminders for things like library books. Local libraries fine you for late return and can stop you borrowing if you constantly return things late or not at all.
Kids will forget things, adults forget things, in the real world that has consequences. It’s not a big leap for school to also have consequences.
I would also be taking the drama out of the detention.

If one pupil forgets it disrupts the class. Either the teacher has to provide equipment (do they need to provide enough of every item for every pupil in case they all forget everything), the pupil has to share the equipment with someone who remembered it (thus giving neither the full use of it) or the pupil gets a substandard learning experience because they're missing it.

A detention sounds like a fair punishment as it will encourage children to try to be more organised.

In the OP's case, the daughter is discouraged from borrowing a book to avoid a detention if they fail to return it on time. That's the system working as intended, the OP is inconvenienced by having to take her to the public library, and this type of inconvenience may sometimes lead parents to encourage their children to be more organised.