Greetings Purple People

Let's get straight to business.

What's up with all the pigmented paper in the Purples? I mean, Yellow Sheets, Purple Tickets -- next they'll be handing out Blue Cards for looking bored during snippets. The consequence? To be determined. But be afraid. Be very afraid.

Now, our teachers call these sheets a "consequence." However, I'd say they're a punishment. The difference? A consequence is something necessarily produced by a cause -- or at least that's what my friends at Merriam-Webster tell me. For example, if I were to drink lots of coke, the consequence would be me bouncing off the walls. Coke makes me hyper. That's the way it works. Now, if I drank a lot of coke and my parents wouldn't let me chat with all my friends for a week (I'm talking to you. Yes, you.) -- well, that's a punishment. Coke may make you burp, may make you hyper, it may even rot your teeth, but it does not stop you from chatting. Not unless someone's punishing you.

The consequence of not doing your homework is getting a lower grade. The consequence of forgetting your planner in your backpack is not having your planner. Consequences, as we've already established, are a necessary outcome. Having to stay after school isn't a necessary outcome. It's something our teachers decided. Yesterday, forgetting something in your backpack didn't mean you got a purple ticket. But I guess the laws of nature are different today. Today, purple tickets magically appear in your hand if your planner is in your backpack. It's just a consequence. Note: I am using sarcasm.

Now trust me, it's not like I don't understand the way that our teachers are looking at this. They are getting tired of constantly reminding some certain kids (I'm looking at you again!) to unpack their bags in the morning. But couldn't they just tell us, "OK, kids, there's now a punishment attached to not unpacking your bag in the morning." Or they should at least admit it's a consequence they're creating to give a negative association with forgetting our planner. I mean, the whole thing makes me feel like my teachers are putting me down. It makes me feel like they think to get us to do something they have to threaten us all with something negative. It feels like they're zookeepers, whipping us when we don't do a trick right. And everyone knows whipping animals is not the way to get them to do a trick.

I think there's another way -- it's proven that positive reinforcement is more effective. But that's a thought for another day.

Thank you for your time and good night.