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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

A big part of our lives was transferred to the online space in the past year, mainly for people whose work can be done from home and for students who previously spent more than half of their days at school or universities. But it’s not easy to keep up, especially for the younger ones. Concentrating at school was hard enough, but at home, where there’s so much distraction and the environment is better suited for relaxing rather than being productive, it’s even more difficult.

However, not everyone feels compassionate about students having difficulties attending online classes. Recently, a tweet went viral in which a mother was expressing her frustration about a teacher putting her child in detention for not paying attention during classes. People in the comments were exasperated by this decision and didn’t agree with it.

More info: Twitter

Uju Anya is a mom that got frustrated about her 9-year-old daughter being sent to Zoom detention and her Tweet went viral

Image credits: Thomas Park (not the actual photo)

Uju Anya is a university professor and researcher in applied linguistics, critical sociolinguistics, and critical discourse studies. So, better than anyone, she knows the difficulties of both teachers and students that arose during this pandemic. But she couldn’t believe her eyes when she received an email with a link to her daughter’s detention room. Apparently, Zoom detention is a thing and after a whole day of Zoom classes, children that don’t meet the teacher’s expectations have to continue being on the computer.

She couldn’t believe that the teacher would discipline her daughter for not paying attention in online school by forcing her to spend more time by the computer

4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

Image credits: UjuAnya

4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

Image credits: UjuAnya

Uju Anya provided more details on this. Before the email with the link to the Zoom detention, she got other ones saying that her daughter is not paying attention in class, doesn’t finish her assignments, plays computer games, or just signs off from Zoom. After several of these warnings, the student was given detention. This does seem serious, especially because this behavior is repeated, but the mother is defending her child, saying that we all are struggling, so what do we want from a 4th grader?

Although the 4th grader gets distracted quite often, the mom still thinks that virtual detention is ridiculous

4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

Image credits: UjuAnya

4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

Image credits: UjuAnya

She understands how the teacher must feel, putting their effort into making classes and teaching kids that don’t listen, but the mother still thinks that online detention is ridiculous. And it’s hard to disagree.

We are learning so much about human psychology during this pandemic and a new phenomenon that we are observing is Zoom fatigue, sometimes called virtual fatigue. It’s not an actual diagnosis, but it is very real and refers to the tiredness, worry, or burnout associated with overusing virtual platforms of communication. So punishing a child for not focusing during online school with more screen time doesn’t sound efficient or helpful.

4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

Image credits: UjuAnya

This issue was also talked about on the talk show The View

Image credits: The View

This tweet got a lot of attention and is now liked more than 340k times. It also was discussed on the talk show The View. One of the hosts of the show, Sunny Hostin, really didn’t understand how virtual detention would improve the student’s ability to focus: “These kids are going through so much right now—it’s really hard for them to just be on the computer and paying attention all the time. I mean, what’s the point of giving more detention and more screen time?”

The opinions in the Twitter comments are more divided, but the majority of people still believe that these problems need a different approach. Most people commenting agreed that online detention doesn’t make sense and teachers should be more lenient during these trying times, while others were defending the teacher asking if it would be better if the student failed the class and saying that the teacher was just trying to make sure the student was keeping up with their studies.

People in the comments were mostly agreeing that the punishment wasn’t fair

4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

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4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

Image credits: Parke42753147

4th Grader Gets Sent To Detention Via Zoom, Mother Starts A Viral Twitter Thread Explaining How Ridiculous That Is

Image credits: argnarb

What is your view on this? Do you have children and how would you react if they got virtual detention? Maybe you’re a student and have already experienced this? Let’s start a discussion in the comments!

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Having started as a content creator that made articles for Bored Panda from scratch I climbed my way up to being and editor and then had team lead responsibilities added as well. So it was a pretty natural transition from writing articles and titles as well as preparing the visual part for the articles to making sure others are doing those same tasks as I did before well, answering their questions and guiding them when needed. Eventually I realized editing gives me the most enjoyment and I'm focusing only on that right now.

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Lukas is a photo editor at Bored Panda. 4th year in Vilnius Gediminas Technical University as a graphic designer. Can do whatever he sets his mind to.

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Lukas is a photo editor at Bored Panda. 4th year in Vilnius Gediminas Technical University as a graphic designer. Can do whatever he sets his mind to.

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What do you think ?

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A.M. Pierre 3 years ago (edited)

Okay, so the parent says the kid was given zoom detention and thinks that sounds ridiculous as a concept. It does, yeah, but look at the rest of her story: she herself says (1) her child has been ignoring class, playing games during class, and signing out of class completely. (2) the teacher has been trying to get through to the student and has also emailed the parent for help but nothing has changed so it has been "moved up the food chain" to the principal and (3) the zoom detention is not just to sit there but for the child to speak to someone and hopefully help her with her problems with class. I agree "zoom detention" sounds silly as a concept, but I'm struggling to think what the teacher/school could do besides that to correct and help the student. Any ideas?

87points

Anna Rush 3 years ago

Yeah this isn't the teachers fault. The teacher is trying to run a virtual class which they haven't been trained to do while the mother lets her spawn ignore class then bitches about the teacher trying to find a solution.

32points

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Vera1 3 years ago

She is a child. Why not tell her to walk through the house for a bit when she is struggling with focussing. Or just a five minute exercise. Focus does not increase by forcing anyone to focus more. Focus increases by doing something else for a little bit before coming back to it. Besides, for many people staring at a zoom screen the whole day is more taxing than other in real life equivalents.

16points

Mary Padgett 3 years ago

Agree. It sounds like the school is trying to get her a session with someone who can talk to her about her issues and give her tools on how to correct them / be more successful. I'm hearing a parent who isn't involved in her child's day at school, isn't involved in helping that child stay focused, isn't worried that the teacher has had to stop class to address it repeatedly and is now making fun of the school for trying to get the child in front of someone who can help.

12points

Honu 3 years ago

It seems to me the main problem is how it was phrased as a punishment: "detention". The idea that she's going to have a meeting with a behavioral specialist isn't a bad thing, unless the intervention is focused on punishment rather than helping her learn some strategies to focus and get her work done. If the behavioral specialist is competent, listens to the child, and really tries to help with tools or possible accommodations, then that's a good thing that I would welcome if I was her parent. However, I would object, as her mother did, to it being put to a child as a punishment. It's needlessly shaming and starts the whole process off in a negative place.

3points

V Martinez 3 years ago

Maybe not only what the teacher/school can do to help, but also the parent(s) or whoever is with the student during the day. This may not be 100% workable, but no harm to try something or find a compromise. Also, how many breaks are the students getting during the day or between classes? Not enough probably. And the younger they are, it can be harder to focus and sit still for learning, from a screen. (Not like playing an educational game.) It's just not the same as being in person. It's like, it's everyone's fault, (for our actions or lack of), but at the same time, it's no one's fault (because of a pandemic). I wish things were better.

3points

julia 3 years ago

i couldn’t have said it better!

1point

A 3 years ago

Perhaps the problem could be solved by the mother removing access to video games during school hours. The child is being handed over to someone who can help to work on her distraction issues and the mother takes to the internet to complain about the teacher for trying to help.The teacher didn't sign up to teach like this and is trying her best.

28points

Commander OwO 3 years ago

Depends on how the detention was actually like, I'd say

1point

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Johnny 3 years ago

What does the mom think would be an effective solution? She admits that the child is not paying attention in virtual class and not keeping up with assignments, and said that this "detention" came after repeated verbal and emailed warnings. Ideally the mom herself would have addressed the problem earlier, but she didn't. So now having the child speak to an "interventionist" sounds like a good next step. It would be easier for everyone to just ignore the problem and let the child fall further behind her peers, but that doesn't seem fair to the child.

19points

Katchen 3 years ago

I wonder if the student is really falling behind her peers? This school year seems like a loss for everyone. I’m not going to worry much about my own kids’ academic standing until after the pandemic, but I feel bad for the teacher here.

-3points

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