Forget detention — schools should use meditation
Ever wonder what purpose detention really serves at school?
On several occasions, I have given it some thought. I realize that the customary answer is that it serves as a deterrent for undesirable behaviour, whether that’s skipping class, bullying, etc.
This is not an answer that I particularly like since all that is being addressed by providing a negative consequence are the surface issues. The root causes for the undesirable behaviour are not being addressed. Instead, detentions simply provide an incentive to not get caught. Serving a detention boils down to staring at walls and being bored out of one’s mind. This can lead to a circular effect of bad behaviour, because it’s tough not to think about how stupid and unfair the world is when extreme boredom sets in during this rudimentary punishment.
Despite the popularity of detention, schools should look for other methods that focus on improving students’ behaviour.
Meditation has been around for thousands of year, but its benefits have only really begun to be strongly embraced in the Western World in more recent times. The benefits of meditation range from increased focus and attention, enhanced selfcontrol, increased participation in activities and increased levels of empathy. Implementing meditation as a course of action for students could be a solution to tackling bullying and other persistent challenges in schools.
I have a unique perspective on meditation as I have been meditating for about a year now. I am far more accepting of myself. The main benefit of meditation is that it helps an individual strengthen their mental cognition or resiliency. In the world today, with so many things happening all at once, many students find it can be incredibly difficult to handle various pressures like being able to focus during class time, dealing with peer pressure and the anxiety of being in school. This is where meditation can come into play, as it helps centre people.
Recently, a school in Baltimore, Maryland, replaced detention with meditation.
The students who are misbehaving are encouraged to participate in a meditation session where they practice certain meditations and breathing exercises, and discuss the incident that caused their undesirable behaviour.
The results have been greatly beneficial to the students and faculty who interact with those students on a regular basis.
Over the last 30 years, the idea of meditation has grown exponentially, from talks and book sales to sports teams. The Chicago Bulls basketball team and the Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks practised meditation to help prepare them.
Today, mindfulness has become a medically accepted method for removing stress and anxiety. Based on the scientific evidence available and my own personal experiences with mindfulness, I feel that it is time that schools begin using mindfulness as a method of improving student behaviour.
Aaron Kerford St. John’s