According to a ntnews.com report, 20 young children have been given detention by their school because they refused to swim in a pool. Apparently, the pool was too cold for them.
Eva Lawler, NT Education Department Executive Director for Central Australia (now that’s a mouthful!), defended the school saying that, “In accordance with the school’s Code of Conduct – which is well-known to all the students – students who do not complete expected work during class time … are expected to attend … afternoon detention.” Ms Lawler said all the students involved were aware that if they did not wish to take part then they needed to provide a note from their parents.
Sometimes I feel like schools are way too trigger happy when it comes to giving out detentions. Swimming programs are supposed to be fun for the kids. If they refuse to get in the water, chances are the conditions and/or program is not up to scratch. No detention is going to suddenly make them want to brave the cold.
Detentions are for enforcing fundamental school rules. If you hand out detentions for not providing a note from parents, detentions become trivial and lose all meaning. I remember getting detentions for forgetting to bring my sport uniform and once for sneezing too loudly (I had a cold and shouldn’t have been at school).
I hope I never have to give a student a detention for nothing more than a reluctance to swim because the water is too cold.
Topical Teaching 
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