ISS considered impractical-Editorial 140923

Editorial Board


A common punishment for misbehavior at Manhattan High School is in-school suspension, or ISS, in which the student being disciplined is sent to a classroom with other problematic students to do their classwork.

While in ISS students stay at school and are still around other kids, the only thing changing is what class they’re in. The student then misses an entire day of instruction, lecture and possibly labs or other projects. Because of the negative aspects of this method of discipline, The Mentor editorial board came to the consensus that ISS is not an efficient punishment.

Removing the student from classes for a day just causes them to get further behind and results in making them even less motivated to learn. Though they are given the assignments by teachers, they still miss the instruction and interaction period.

In order for the discipline to be efficient it should take time out of the student’s life outside of school. Odds are if they’re being a disruption and need to be removed from class they don’t care if they’re pulled from it.

In addition to taking away from the education of the child, ISS also takes time out of the teacher’s schedule. Each teacher whose class the student will be missing has to prepare or modify the assignments so it can be done in ISS when the student could easily attend all of their classes and have lunch or after-school detention. The more class time that’s missed the further behind the student becomes and the less likely he/she is to care and try to improve.

Not only would it be smarter and more convenient for everyone if disciplinary actions were carried out during the student’s free time, the student would also be more motivated to correct the behavior. They will definitely care more when their leisure time is being shortened rather than getting a break from class.