I am surprised that teachers today are still punishing misbehaving children by making them write lines.

While I believe teachers are doing their best under trying circumstances, I wonder if writing out a piece of text hundreds of times actually helps the child and contributes to his learning.

A friend recently suggested a different type of punishment, which I hope teachers will take up.

Say the whole class has an assignment to research a newspaper article and present it to the class.

The errant student can be made to research two articles and present twice instead.

This idea can certainly be refined, but this form of punishment is a win-win, as it gives the youngster an opportunity to learn more.

Joseph Wong Yong Lye