Should this high school punishment change?

Stop.
For both of boys and girls.
Equality.
Rather reward behavior.

Stop. It’s rather archaic manner of punishment.
Whatever is put in place needs to be indifferent of gender.

STOP! This is uncalled for and unfair to both.

On the surface, I’d say make the punishments equal. I’d first have to ask why they are different to start with.

Seems like a very strict school. Is this in the UK or elsewhere?

I would definitely say the punishments should be equal if punishment is called for at all. What’s wrong with a prefect coming over and just asking the student to stop talking?

Thanks @janbb. My thoughts exactly. Usually a teacher whispering “SHHHHH!” Is all that’s needed.
And I’m with Wulfie. Why are the disciplines different for boys and girls?

It sounds like control and abuse is used rather than using more compassionate ways like “discussing with the student” the reasins ‘why” it is important during assembling.
This should had been explained thoughtfully “before” assembly to avoid scenes like the ones you depicted.
Something is wrong with that School’s administration!
If I was a parent to those students you can bet that I would have severe words to say about that lack of teaching students better.
Shameing is NOT NEEDED!

Sometimes the teaching just doesn’t stick @Inspired_2write. The child may have a learning disability. The child may have behavioral issues.

@Dutchess_III
The institution should be knowledgeable in theis present age to take that into account and with compassion direct that studet and family to resources to help THAT CHILD ( Priority).

The students are at the mercy of supposed knowledgeable leaders and teachers to be wary of Special needs students and if not equipted to direct the parents in the correct schools/institutions that use compassionate means to ensure that student find sucess in their lifetime.

“Detention” sounds excessive. I also think probably some sort of tolerance for minor infractions, and beyond that, escalating warnings before serious corrective measures, is called for, so it gives students the chance to become more self-aware and self-correct.

The reaction to talking should be pointing out the impact of their behavior (making hearing difficult, distracting and wasting the time of everyone there), and on repeat, expressing disappointment for the talkers’ lack of consideration and self-control, and expecting them to self-correct, which requires giving them the opportunity to self-correct, while not making an ass of the faculty by requiring them to over-punish mistakes.

The reason why is that immediate escalation to punishments is less humane, exceeds social norms, needlessly escalates student-teacher relationships to something hostile, infantilizing, archaic, and unpleasant, and doesn’t leave room for positive relationships and self-correction (see studies on fear’s effect on learning ability). It’s also ineffective and tends to backfire because of the negative context and resentment for unfair mistreatment for innocent mistakes.

The punishment should be the same for both sexes, because otherwise it exposes the school’s rules as pointlessly sexist. The school should lead by example by not having sexist and needlessly punitive rules.

Or the teachers could just hiss “SHHH!” at the kid. It usually works. If not, it’s normal to have the student come sit next to the teacher. That’s usually the end of it.

@Dutchess_III Teachers hissing “SHHH” is disruptive to everyone at that point. Not a good practice in an assembly.

Briefly disruptive and it shuts down the bigger disrupter down.

If these are high schoolers, treat them like the adults they almost are rather than children who must be punished. It sounds like whatever country this is has some antiquated ideas about raising children to be mature, thinking adults.

High School kids are a joy to work with!

^^ Yay!

Wow, your school loves the shaming. Yeah, they should change that, but address it from a perspective of rejecting public shaming as punishment.

I think we’ve got you narrowed down to the Commonwealth, but if you would share what country you live in, and if your school is public or private, it would help our understanding.

The punishments sound too severe. Are the students first given a warning and a shhhh?

Punishment should be equal for both genders.

Children who won’t keep still and silent in assembly after being asked to be quiet should be sent to the principal’s office.

Are a lot of children out of control in this school? In my years growing up a I can barely think of a time when kids wildly misbehaved during an assembly. We were so happy to get out of class. Lol. Sure, sometimes it took a full minute to quiet everyone down, but once everyone had their attention on the presentation we were quiet.

^^^ Sometimes, depending.on who is in charge. An actual educated teacher, or an untrained aid?

I think of assemblies as usually having multiple teachers present and sometimes administrative staff also.

I wish the OP would come back and tell us what country they are in and if it’s a public or private school. That might help in giving some answers.

I agree Pengy.

^^ Come over here and I’ll let you tickle my feathers!

@Smashley it’s a New Zealand public school

Thank you. Sounds so barbaric.