Do You Punish Your Kids for Bad Grades?

by Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger

13 Feb 2009 11:28 AM

If you are the Generals from Chesapeake, Virginia, your kid not only gets punished for coming home with a bad report card, but his punishment makes front-page news.

It's hard not to end up in the paper when you have your 15-year-old standing near a busy intersection wearing a chest-to-trunk poster board displaying his bad grades for hours on end.

According to reports, Trenton O'Neal's parents were fed up with their teen's lack of effort in school and decided to publicly humiliate him.

"He hadn't been trying at all," the boy's dad, Rev. Donald General Jr., pastor of Perfecting Saints Church of God in Christ in Virginia Beach told local news reporters. "He's not even handing in work he does when we supervise him. My wife and I are not going to give up on Tre."

To that end, the Western Branch High School freshman was made to stand in public wearing a sandwich board featuring his grades and message that read: "My Future = Shaky!"

The teen's parents say there is no excuse for their son's lousy grades. What's more, they claim the boy is wasting away his educational opportunities, and is an embarrassment considering both Generals have several academic degrees.

One mother who drove by Trenton during his 6-hour punishment applauded his parent's resolve.

"These kids need to take their grades more seriously," the mom of one of Trenton's classmates told reporters. "This has a serious impact and should make other kids think, 'Wow, I don't want my mama doing that.'"

So, what do you make of this type of "punishment?" Do you feel that the boy's parents were right to have him display his poor grades in the manner they did? I'm not sure embarrassing a child in such a way will suddenly make him a top-notch student. But, I could be wrong. What do you think?

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Learn more about Michele Cheplic

Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism.

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Samual (11722) 13 Feb 2009 11:37 AM

I think it is a horrible thing to do, to call your own child an embarrassment is an awful thing to do. All this will do is make their son hate school work even more and give out a message that unless you are very clever you are a worthless embarrassment to your parents.

Starrlight (5255) 13 Feb 2009 12:00 PM

Each person/child is unique, so while it may or may not work on him doesn't mean it would or wouldn't work for others. I agree with Samual, they should never say he is an embarrasement, maybe they should have said his behavior is an embarassement instead. I think (IMO) they went over the top in punishment. We do punish for bad grades, but it's things like taking away XBox previleges, more chores or less time with friends. Sounds like the whole family needs assistance.

Dale Harcombe (10315) 13 Feb 2009 01:49 PM

To publicly humilate a child or teenager (or anyone else for that matter) in my eyes in not demonstrating good parenting or love. Surely there are other ways of discipline?

Michele Cheplic (37339) 14 Feb 2009 05:39 AM

Let's just hope this kid doesn't rebel against his strict parents and we end up reading about that in the paper as well. Thanks for the comments!

Julie Gentry (5915) 04 Jun 2009 01:12 AM

I'm not his parent so I can't say for certain. But I'm sure this isn't the first step, and that they are doing everything they can. Also, the "embarrassment" is not a direct quote -- they might very well have said his grades are embarrassing.

If they're doing this out of love (which it sounds like they are), I don't see a problem in it. We don't know all the circumstances.

(Part of the beauty of homeschooling is there is no such thing as a bad grade -- didn't get it right? do it over. Straight As ;-))