Bring back the strap, Quick and effective paragraph plan
Key Idea: Ms Snowden advocates/supports the re-introduction of corporal punishment because it is the best method to control disruptive students.
Argument: She bases her viewpoint upon personal experience with “unruly” students and Dr Donnelly’s recent report .
Quotes:
- For “too long”, they have got away with a “stern stare and some tough talk” (alliteration; teacher’s discipline is ineffective and this stops students from learning)
- “Unruly students” are “crying out for the strap” (cliché: impossible to discipline these students in any other way)
- Time out – enabled students to “avoid work”
- Students are being “rewarded for bad behaviour”
- Everyone’s “right to an education”
Idea/Purpose: Ms Snowden defends the policy to reintroduce the strap because it will be a more effective deterrent. .
Adopting a critical, impassioned, defensive tone, Ms Snowden advocates/supports the re-introduction of corporal punishment because, she believes, it is the best method to control disruptive students. Underpinning her defence of the strap, is the reference to Dr Donnelly’s “expert” advice and the recalcitrant (resistant to authority) characterisation/picture of “unruly” students. Specifically, she discredits the current form of discipline in the classroom and believes that for “too long”, such students have got away with a “stern stare and some tough talk” . This use of alliteration is designed to mock modern discipline methods. Aimed at parents, it also seeks to arouse anger at the fact that many students are unable to learn in a peaceful classroom environment. (She seeks to shame those teachers are trying to defend ineffective disciplinary methods.) Furthermore, the figurative reference to the fact that “unruly students” are “crying out for the strap” also suggests that the strap is the most effective solution which will enable all students to learn in a decent environment. Accordingly, she expects that the school cohort and educational policy-makers will rally behind her call for the reintroduction of corporal punishment.
- See Mr Scott’s letter – analysis: Bring Back the Strap
- Return to Orange Workbook: Exercises and metalanguage