While in grade school (grades K-6), the ultimate punishment was capital, meaning you got spanked. But beyond that, it was mostly a meeting with parents, or a trip to the principal's office.

Now, high school was a different story. Students who did not heed warnings, or acted up beyond the norm were given demerits. I received a few in my time at school. They were slips of paper that said you had been bad, basically. If you racked up 5 demerits, you had to stay after school in detention, which was about 45 to 50 minutes longer at school (a lifetime to a youth).

Next came either suspension or expulsion. You didn't want either, because your parents would be having some words with you about it when they found out.

Like most schools, there was detention, expulsion, suspension and in-school suspension at mine.

thecrow174 wrote :

Like most schools, there was detention, expulsion, suspension and in-school suspension at mine.

What was "in-school suspension"?

Vaporman87 wrote :

thecrow174 wrote :


Like most schools, there was detention, expulsion, suspension and in-school suspension at mine.

What was "in-school suspension"?

It's suspension, only on school grounds. They made us go to a building, which looks like a mobile home, and we had to stay there, away from the classrooms, the gymnasium and stuff, all day, doing whatever we were told to do by the instructor.

detention, suspension, and even expulsion. but with that, the dress codes for middle school and high school barely had any backbone in rules. you could wear the saggiest of pants and you wouldn't get in trouble

Detentions and suspensions...I was having a lot of trouble in the years after my dad died, and every week I landed in either detention or in-school-suspension. Towards the end of my 7th grade, I even got an out-of-school suspension. I was having a very hard time. By the time I entered high school, I stopped getting detentions and suspensions, but students got other punishments. Sometimes if one student acted up, we would all have to put our heads down on our desks and be quiet for a few minutes. Sometimes, we would be told not to speak. Every few months, even though only a few students had hygiene problems, they would gather us all up and chastise us as a group. When I confronted the teacher about it one day, she said that individual meetings would be embarrassing. You may wonder if this was a high school-wide thing...It wasn't. We were an entity unto ourselves. We were a special education class in converted storage space, rarely mixing with the normal students, going to our own detention facility, basically being a school within a school. I'm glad I no longer go there.

Same as Caps, detention and suspension. No expulsion or capital. I was never bad enough to get OSS (out of school suspension) but I got ISS once or twice. Our ISS wasn't in a separate building. Just a classroom. One room, all day, no leaving at all except for bathroom (with escort), absolutely no talking. And the door was open, which made it tempting to interact if a friend was in the hall.

If I had ever got OSS, my parents would have ripped me a new one and it would be worse. But I think the kids who did get it, their parents weren't that strict and it would be fun. I mean no school for however many days? But I don't know.

Once I got detention in junior high. To pass the time, I practiced holding my breath. Think I got to two minutes & 45 seconds.

K-6 (K-5 in my district), I have no idea what punishments there were.

Caps 2.0 wrote :
We were a special education class in converted storage space, rarely mixing with the normal students, going to our own detention facility, basically being a school within a school. I'm glad I no longer go there.

When I think of "special education class", I certainly don't picture someone as eloquent or knowledgeable as you being a part of one. I'm flummoxed by this.

Vaporman87 wrote :

Caps 2.0 wrote :

We were a special education class in converted storage space, rarely mixing with the normal students, going to our own detention facility, basically being a school within a school. I'm glad I no longer go there.

When I think of "special education class", I certainly don't picture someone as eloquent or knowledgeable as you being a part of one. I'm flummoxed by this.

Thank you for the compliment, but I was diagnosed with Aspergers' Syndrome in the late 90s. It's become a running joke on the Internet, and especially on RetroJunk, but it's something I was truthfully diagnosed with. The thing about Aspergers' Syndrome is that you're perceived as either a genius or an idiot, when the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I may end up having to be rediagnosed, since the newest version of the DSM no longer recognizes AS.

I was in trouble several times in school. One time when I was in the sixth grade, I was given a one-day out-of-school suspension, even though it was near the end of the school year. I forgot what that was for. But earlier that year, I stole some girl's retainer case and I had to write an apology letter to her. Other than that, I had to be sent home for the rest of the day during my middle-school years. I had to miss the last day of seventh grade because of my unmentionable shenanigans.

My freshman year, on the other hand, had much graver punishments. I had detention two or three times and my parents had to pick me up when said detention was over. And my parents had to put me into such really hellish punishments such as having to watch a TV channel that I did not like.

Now moving on to elementary-school years. I had to be sent to the principal's office for the remainder of the day several times, until my mom came to pick me up. One of those times was when I jostled a boy from another class during lunch. However, he came to the principal's office and I apologized to him, to a point where he got himself a piece of candy from a dish on the principal's desk. Other punishments included not having to get on the bus and stay in my MH teacher's room until my mom came to pick me up. But that was for less grave punishments.

demonpuppet87 wrote :
I was in trouble several times in school...

Are you typing this from prison?

J/K