Hall sweeps have been a procedure at Cardozo for quite some time — when students arrive late or are in the halls after the late bell, they are kept in a holding room or auditorium, rather than being allowed to attend the remainder of their classes.
This policy, at its core, seems misguided, redundant, and lacking in logic. This policy holds students captive early in the morning, forcing them to endure lengthy lectures. To me, this room seems like yet another abuse of power within the school.
Students aren’t oblivious to the concept of tardiness. We understand the importance of being on time, and we recognize the consequences that lateness can have in the real world — on job prospects, professional relationships, and personal responsibility. We know the stakes. The constant lectures restating these points, however, are not helpful; they’re excessive and unnecessary.
It feels unsympathetic to many students, and it goes against the school’s motto of being a “Cardozo Hero.” It’s dismissive of students who struggle to get out of bed due to personal challenges or the weight of homework. It shows little consideration for those who may be dealing with domestic issues or personal hardships, making their daily routines even more difficult.
It’s also incredibly dismissive of any students who struggle simply to walk into the building every day.
While I agree that schools should prepare students for what is to come after high school, I also agree that lecturing students isn’t the correct strategy or way to do it.
Punctuality is an important skill and perhaps deans have the genuine intention of trying to assist students with their futures. But, like most things, the delivery isn’t effective. It’s just an illogical way to go about teaching students time management skills.
To promote the quality of arriving on time, students are instead forced to be absent to the whole class. To promote showing up to school on time, we end up instead get marked absent due to the “holdovers” in the late room. I don’t understand how this strategy helps students to arrive on time. It also creates discrepancies on their report cards when it comes to absences.
It’s everywhere — people claim to advocate for mental health, but nobody ever sees the small signs of struggling. They use lateness or skipping classes, or any other form of misconduct, and label you as “defiant.” A chance to chastise you and assert their authority and control over students overall.
I remember a line that often gets repeated when students are released from the late room, “Have a good day and try to get to school on time tomorrow.” And, every time, in the back of mind I whisper to myself the same recurring question — ‘What do you think we’re doing?’
On the other hand, from the staff’s perspective, I truly wouldn’t know how to improve punctuality in school. Like most skills in life, I believe it’s just something that people learn as life progresses further for them. However, if being on time was an important skill for the school’s student’s, maybe giving students an incentive and reward for when they improve would be more beneficial than threatening them with confiscated events and time.
