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You might believe the education system has moved past the days of corporal punishment, like hitting kids with wooden planks. However, after reading the stories here, you'll quickly realize you were mistaken. These are some of the most outlandish punishments imposed by teachers and parents on students who misbehaved.
10. Kneeling on Frozen Peas
Recently, a photo went viral online that at first glance looks like two fingers afflicted with a strange condition. Upon closer inspection, it's revealed to be the legs of an Asian schoolgirl, who was forced to kneel on frozen peas for an extended period of time. This unusual punishment is gaining traction, particularly in Asia, as schools are increasingly using it to discipline disobedient students.
Students have been subjected to kneeling with their arms raised for hours, their legs placed on frozen peas, corn, or rice. In one case, a girl in China was even expelled for taking and sharing photos of the brutal punishment online. It doesn’t stop there—reports have surfaced of young children being forced to kneel on searing concrete and even cheese graters by their parents. In Florida, Albert and Nancy Cusson escalated the punishment to a disturbing level, making their grandson kneel for nine hours straight, for ten consecutive days. While some kneeling punishments might be legal, the line between discipline and outright cruelty can sometimes be shockingly thin.
9. Holding Hands While Being Mocked
Typically, when two students get into a fight, they are met with suspension or possibly expulsion. However, at Westwood High School in Mesa, Arizona, two students who fought were presented with a unique choice. They had two options: accept suspension or sit in the courtyard holding hands for 15 minutes. The students chose to hold hands, unaware that their punishment would soon become a viral sensation. Other students pointed, laughed, and filmed the pair as they tried to conceal their embarrassment.
The students were subjected to cruel comments about their sexual orientation and called degrading names. While some local parents appeared to support Principal Tim Richard’s unconventional punishment, it was met with strong disapproval from the Mesa School District. The two students endured considerable humiliation, with teasing continuing far beyond the 15-minute time frame and into lunch. However, they later claimed they learned their lesson and promised never to engage in school fights again.
8. Wearing a Sign
Trying to punish your child for poor grades can be challenging—unless you’re the Florida parents who made their son wear a sign to publicly announce his disappointing academic performance. Michael Bell Jr. was handed a sign that read: “Hey, I want to be a class clown. Is it wrong?” The reverse side stated: “I’m in 7th grade and got three Fs. Honk if that’s a problem.” He was forced to stand for hours at a busy street corner in Miami.
After failing math, civics, and language arts, Bell Jr. spent his entire spring break on that street corner holding the sign, even prompting other parents to adopt the same form of punishment. One mother from Tampa made her son stand on a street corner with a sign that read: “I did four questions on my FCAT and said I wasn’t going to do it… GPA 1.22… honk if I need (an) education.” Predictably, many drivers honked in support of the punishment, while others deemed it cruel and overly embarrassing.
7. The Cone of Shame
6. Eating Lunch Off The Floor
No use crying over spilled milk, right? Well, that’s not the case for students at Charles Sumner Elementary School in New Jersey. In 2009, fifth graders at the school were forced to eat their lunch off the floor as punishment after one of the students spilled a jug of water while filling a cooler. In the resulting lawsuit, the school’s vice-principal denied the claims, stating the real reason was a shortage of seats—though it seems odd since the students were not allowed to use trays, but were instead given only a small piece of paper to separate their lunch from the filthy cafeteria floor. School officials even warned the children they would be forced to stay longer if they revealed the punishment to anyone.
The lawsuit became even more contentious when it was revealed that the students targeted by the teachers, who were African-American and Caucasian, were all of Hispanic descent. This unusual punishment lasted for 10 days and even affected students who were absent when the water was spilled. In the end, seven of the affected students received a $500,000 settlement.
5. Being Written On with Permanent Marker
Learning to read is already challenging, even without the added frustration of your teacher letting other students draw on your face with permanent markers. Summer Larsen, a fourth-grade teacher in Idaho, chose this bizarre method of punishment for students who didn’t meet their Accelerated Reading goal. Those who fell short had two options—skip recess (which was not an option!) or let their classmates write on their faces. Six students chose the latter.
Parents were understandably outraged to see their children coming home covered in drawings, and quickly took action against the school. While the students technically had a choice, the punishment was viewed as odd and overly harsh, particularly for the kids who struggled more with reading.
4. Chopping Off Hair
One morning, Lamaya Cammon sat quietly in class, playing with the beads in her freshly braided hair. After coaxing the seven-year-old to come to her desk with candy, the teacher grabbed a pair of scissors and cut off one of Lamaya’s braids. Lamaya insisted that playing with her hair wasn’t disrupting anyone, but the teacher, whose name was not revealed, clearly disagreed. The incident occurred in front of the whole class, who began laughing as Lamaya returned to her desk, crying and humiliated. The teacher later apologized, claiming her actions were driven by frustration. She was fined $175 for the bizarre act but was allowed to continue teaching.
3. The Monster Closet
A teacher in Houston came under intense scrutiny after locking several students in a completely dark custodial closet known as the 'Monster Closet.' After reading a story about monsters hiding in closets, the Pre-K teacher thought it would be a fitting punishment for four-year-old Kelon Chaney. As Chaney’s classmates laughed at his predicament, the teacher also crammed three other children into the tiny, pitch-black space with him. Chaney was so terrified by the experience that he ended up vomiting.
A similar incident of children being locked in dark rooms as punishment occurred in Idaho. A teacher at Washington Elementary School allegedly locked five-year-old Tanner Cagle in a small closet for over an hour, and then completely forgot about him, leaving for the day. When his parents grew concerned about his absence, they went to the school and discovered their son still locked in the closet, having urinated on himself from fear.
2. Organizing A Fake Prom
In an astonishingly petty act of retaliation, a Mississippi school district staged a fake prom for a lesbian student after she sued them for refusing to let her wear a tuxedo and bring her girlfriend to the event. Constance McMillen and her girlfriend were initially told that their request to attend prom as a couple had led to its cancellation. Furious over the school’s extreme reaction to her simple request, McMillen filed a lawsuit against the district for discrimination. After the court ruled in her favor, granting her the right to attend, the school notified her that she would be invited to a replacement prom organized by the parents of her classmates. What McMillen didn’t know was that the school had no intention of inviting her to the real prom and instead arranged a fake event just for her, her girlfriend, and five students with mental disabilities.
It wasn’t until McMillen and her date arrived at a country club for the event that they realized they had been tricked as part of the punishment. While she attended this sham prom with six other students, everyone else was at the real prom just a short distance away. The school district was eventually forced to pay McMillen $35,000 for the humiliation they subjected her to. However, while the financial settlement provided some relief, it couldn’t undo the emotional damage caused by being deceived by both school administrators and her classmates.
1. Telling An Autistic Kid Nobody Liked Him
While struggling with undiagnosed high-functioning autism, a young boy named Alex Barton was expelled from his classroom by both his teacher and classmates. The trouble began when Alex arrived without his backpack and homework folder, which led to him being sent to the office. He was later returned to class but soon disrupted the lesson, causing his teacher, Wendy Portillo, to initiate a class discussion about everything they disliked about Alex. When Alex returned to the room, the discussion was still going, and he was forced to sit and listen as his peers critiqued him. At one point, Mrs. Portillo reportedly told Alex that she hated him. After the verbal bullying, Mrs. Portillo used the moment to conduct a lesson on tallying, asking the class to vote on whether they wanted Alex to stay in class. The vote was overwhelmingly against him, with a result of 14-2, and Alex was expelled from the room. Despite this shocking punishment, a court ruled that Mrs. Portillo could continue teaching and retain her tenure.
+The Therapy Bag
At first glance, ‘The Therapy Bag’ may sound like a soothing, modern relaxation tool. However, the reality is far from peaceful. It was actually a small duffel bag used by a Kentucky schoolteacher to punish a nine-year-old autistic boy named Christopher Baker. The third-grader was subjected to this cruel treatment for failing to complete his work. School officials claimed that Christopher was confined to the bag for no longer than 20 minutes, but when his mother arrived at the school, she found him still tightly wrapped inside, desperately calling out for help as he struggled to escape. The incident sparked widespread outrage, and the teachers involved were subsequently fired. The bizarre punishment drew significant backlash from the local community.
