Give me 20 ...

I've been volunteerng as a reading mentor for about six weeks now. The school I volunteer at is an experimental school that takes underprivileged kids from the worst performing school districts in the metropolitan area and gives them a full scholarship for all three middle school years and then the school places these students in various prominent private and public high schools upon graduation. I usually work one-on-one with students, reading with them. But yesterday, I was asked to work in the classroom with them during their study hall. One of their teachers was present and monitored the classroom while I went around and helped students with vocabulary and math. Apparently, a group of the 7th grade boys are little hell raisers. They really aren't so bad, but just hyper and goofy. They think they are getting away with murder when they commit their little "crimes." A few times during the first part of study hall, the teacher would tell one of the boys to go out in the hall for 20. I thought it was some kind of timeout for being unruly. But then I realized that he was making them do push-ups!! I asked one of the students if they really had to do push-ups and he said, "yes...Watch, I'll show you." And he got up from his seat abruptly and started clowning around with one of the other boys and sure enough, he had to drop and do 20 push-ups!!

Does this seem weird to anyone else? I mean, these boys laugh it off and it doesn't seem to deter them from goofing off whatsoever. More than anything, it seems like a macho performance. And what makes it even more strange is that the teacher of the class is this small little priest who seems to realize that he is indulging the kids somewhat. I mean, I can understand if he wants to burn some of the kids' energy off when they get hyper and misbehave but this push-up thing seems quite arbitrary to even that. What are 20 push-ups to a 7th grade boy? Maybe 20 laps or running 20 lines like I remember having to do in volleyball practice when Sandi Parker would piss our coach off and we'd all get punished. Believe me, running lines repeatedly is brutal. But not one of these boys broke a sweat or pretended to be tired. Maybe if they were military push-ups or something regimented but they are not. The boys get away with these herky jerky up and down movements and that's that.

And believe me, I see the challenges teacher face. I am lucky because I stroll in and help the kids, they want to befriend me because I am fresh and interested in them and not burned out or jaded. It takes a special person to be a teacher and I really admire that. I can see how teachers burn out and give up. The kids that are rowdy get all the attention and the focused kids become neglected as a result. I realized I was spending a lot of time trying to get the rowdy kids to focus on their work, trying to generate interest in what they were doing. So, I started going around to the quiet and focused kids and asked them what they were reading or interested in. And really, even these rowdy kids are just hyper but not violent or abusive. They can't be at this school. But, I see how 30+ hours a week with any kids could be exhausting.

Anyway, I digress. Really though... push-ups? Does anyone else see some absurdity in this form of discipline/punishment or am I missing something here?