A demerit is a point given to a student as a penalty for bad behavior.[1] Under this once common practice, a student is given a number of merits during the beginning of the school term and a certain number of merits are deducted for every infraction committed.[2]
Schools use the demerit record within a point-based system to punish misbehavior. After a certain number of demerits are accumulated, the student is given detention, loss of privileges (e.g., being denied field trips and participation in school events), or some other punishment[3][4] based on the seriousness and frequency of the infraction.[5]
One criticism of demerit systems is that they create bookkeeping problems and can result in students receiving severe punishments for minor infractions.[6] Another criticism is that older adolescents learn how to manipulate a demerit system.[7] There are also critics who cite that demerits wear parents down with constant parental meetings and leave students behind due to missed instructional time as a consequence of punishments such as detention and suspension.[8]
References
edit- ^ Rosen, Louis (2005-02-01). School Discipline: Best Practices for Administrators. Corwin Press. ISBN 978-1-4833-6139-0.
- ^ Rosen, Louis (2005). School Discipline: Best Practices for Administrators, Second Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. p. 38. ISBN 1412913489.
- ^ "The Demise of the Demerit". Archived from the original on 2020-06-14. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
- ^ "Riverdale School District - Demerit System". Archived from the original on 2019-10-10. Retrieved 2019-10-10.
- ^ Deakin, Jo; Taylor, Emmeline; Kupchik, Aaron (2018). The Palgrave International Handbook of School Discipline, Surveillance, and Social Control. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 179. ISBN 9783319715582.
- ^ "School's Demerit System May be Expelled * Panel in Northampton Says Simpler Method Needed to Make Punishment Fit 'Crime.'". 12 February 1997.
- ^ Louis Rosen. School Discipline: Best Practices for Administrators.
- ^ Rotberg, Iris C.; Glazer, Joshua L. (2018). Choosing Charters: Better Schools or More Segregation?. New York: Teachers College Press. p. 74. ISBN 9780807759004.
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