Saturday school, as it exists at Cactus Shadows High School, is a punishment for students who have more than ten tardies. For many reasons, this is a bad idea.
While ten tardies at first seems like a lot, they can add up quickly throughout a semester. Frequent traffic, sleeping in, and unexpected emergencies can all factor into why a student misses school. Even the perfect student will be late to class more than a few times.
Also, Saturday school seems to be very loosely enforced. Ask around campus and you’ll find many students that say they have more than ten tardies, yet have not been sentenced to Saturday School. Not to say it should be heavily enforced, as the administration has enough to deal with already.
Saturday school also isn’t a sound punishment. Students who are subjected to it will be tardy again, no question. Saturday school can’t correct other external variables as to why the student was late, like traffic etc. In addition, Saturday school is a meaningless waste of time for all involved. The faculty doesn’t want to be there, and the students aren’t learning anything. Nothing productive comes from Saturday school.
Instead of Saturday school, the administration should switch to something more effective and useful to ensure people get to school on time.
Recently, administration has announced that students not wearing their ID a certain amount of times will be given Saturday School. While it might make sense to some, I don’t think the punishment fits the crime. Having to go into school on the weekend all because you weren’t wearing your ID seems a little steep.
These recent policies reflect a shift in administrative action on minor infractions. In most cases, this isn’t a bad thing. Taking measures to ensure students are rule-abiding members of this school is important. But these policies might hurt more than it helps.
At least now, punishment has been uneven. As aforementioned, many students have exceeded the amount of tardies necessary for Saturday school, but have not received it. How are we supposed to make sure everyone who is supposed to go to Saturday school goes to Saturday school? It seems like an excessive amount of work for the administration, and frankly, a waste of time.
For many reasons, Saturday school is a bad idea.