Would this be the ideal solution for recalcitrant students? Here, no more hours of glue but a united approach that has already proven its worth.
In middle and high school, a missed assignment, an attitude problem or even a skipped class hour are generally punished by an hour of detention. The student must then stay in a classroom, often in silence, doing homework or copying lines. In the most serious cases, when the missteps are repeated and after several hours of detention, this results in exclusion from the school. Temporary at first then, when the situation worsens and after several warnings, permanent.
This system has existed for decades and remains deeply rooted in French school culture. However, more and more voices are being raised to question its effectiveness. For some education specialists, traditional restraint does not really allow students to understand the scope of their actions. He suffers a sanction, certainly, but without necessarily thinking about what led him there. The risk is then to see the same behaviors repeated, in a spiral that is not very constructive for both the student and the educational team.
This is the observation made by the College of Europe in Bourg-de-Péage, in Drôme, which has recently been experimenting with an alternative to traditional restraints. The objective of this approach is to “reinforce the educational dimension of the sanction” and “to make the student think, to make him take responsibility, to make him a little more mature”, specifies the principal of the establishment. But then, what do the sanctioned students do?
Rather than sitting in a room within the college, they volunteer hours outside of school hours, in the evening or on weekends, at the Restos du Cœur center in Romans-sur-Isère. Sorting foodstuffs, preparing packages, welcoming beneficiaries: the tasks entrusted to young people allow them to discover concretely the functioning of a charitable association and the realities of precariousness.
This type of sanction remains “very rarely put in place by educational establishments because it is very difficult to find partners”, explains the principal to Dauphiné Libéré. Associations do not always have the human resources to supervise young people, and administrative procedures can slow down this type of initiative. The partnership between the college and the Restos du Cœur is therefore an exception and could inspire other establishments looking for alternative solutions. Moreover, this system is not only aimed at stuck-up students, but also at those who are under the threat of exclusion and will therefore be able to “go to the Restos du Cœur to discover and give a helping hand to the volunteers”. The idea is to offer them a second chance before taking a more radical measure.
For the educational team, it is about allowing students to see things differently and to feel valued. Far from being a humiliating or sterile punishment, this supportive approach has the advantage of developing empathy in young people. By working alongside committed volunteers and people in difficulty, students become aware of realities that are sometimes far removed from their daily lives. Helping others and feeling useful is much better than an hour stuck in class watching the hands tick. What if this experience made them want to commit to volunteering for the long term? In any case, this is the bet that this Drôme college is making, convinced that kindness can transform behavior where punishment sometimes fails.
