# Writing lines > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Writing_lines > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Writing_lines.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing_lines > Source revision: 1354413446 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|School punishment}} [[File:From_tommorow_I_will_not_speak_Dzongkha_in_class_b.jpg|thumb|upright|An example of a sentence assigned as punishment: "From tomorrow I will not speak [Dzongkha](/source/Dzongkha) in the class"]] '''Writing lines''' is a form of [punishment](/source/punishment) imposed by [teacher](/source/teacher)s on misbehaving [student](/source/student)s in [school](/source/school)s. It is a long-standing form of [school discipline](/source/school_discipline) and is frequently [satirised](/source/satire) in [popular culture](/source/popular_culture). ==Description== [Writing](/source/Writing) lines involves copying a [sentence](/source/sentence_(linguistics)) onto a piece of [paper](/source/paper) or a [chalkboard](/source/chalkboard) as many times as the punishment-giver deems necessary. The actual sentence to be copied varies but usually bears some relation to the reason for the punishment being imposed in the first place, ''e.g.'', "I must not misbehave in class".{{harvnb|Schaffner|2019|p=14}} It has been suggested that the use of writing as punishment conflicts with the [pedagogical](/source/pedagogical) goal of encouraging students to enjoy writing. Writing is often used as a way to leverage [shame](/source/shame) and [humiliation](/source/humiliation) for punishment.{{harvnb|Schaffner|2019|p=5}} However, particularly with young children, it may reduce disruptive behaviour at least while they are in the process of writing, simply because of the [focus](/source/attention) required for them to make the body movements for writing.{{harvnb|Dixon|2010|p=84}} ==History== [[File:Euskarazko hitz egiteagatik zigortutako Bedaioko ikasle baten koadernoa 2.jpg|thumb|An [exercise book](/source/exercise_book) given as punishment during [Francoist Spain](/source/Francoist_Spain). The line is "''En la escuela no tengo que hablar vasco''" ("I must not speak in [Basque](/source/Basque_language) at school").]] Writing lines is a long-standing form of school discipline, having survived even as other old punishments such as [school corporal punishment](/source/school_corporal_punishment) and [dunce hat](/source/dunce_hat)s fell out of favour in the 20th century.{{harvnb|Schaffner|2019|p=11}} In a 1985 study, over half of respondent teachers in an [English-speaking country](/source/English-speaking_country) indicated [awareness](/source/awareness) of the use of writing to discipline students.{{harvnb|Hogan|1985|p=41}} In 2019, a third-year [secondary school](/source/secondary_school) student in [Harbin](/source/Harbin), China, purchased a [robot](/source/robot) which automates handwriting for {{currency|800|CNY}} in order to complete a [homework](/source/homework) assignment which involved writing lines.{{Cite web |url=https://www.hk01.com/%E7%86%B1%E7%88%86%E8%A9%B1%E9%A1%8C/296035/%E5%AE%8C%E7%BE%8E%E6%A8%A1%E4%BB%BF%E7%AD%86%E8%BF%B9-%E5%85%A7%E5%9C%B0%E5%A5%B3%E7%94%9F800%E4%BA%BA%E4%BB%94%E8%B2%B7-%E5%AF%AB%E5%AD%97%E6%A9%9F%E5%99%A8%E4%BA%BA-%E9%98%BF%E5%AA%BD%E5%AC%B2%E7%88%86%E7%A0%B8%E7%88%9B |title=完美模仿筆迹？內地女生800人仔買「寫字機器人」 阿媽嬲爆砸爛 |author=李納德 |date=17 February 2019 |website=HK01 |language=zh-HK}} ==In popular culture== [[File:Romani ite domum HER Museum 6 July 2018.jpg|thumb|right|''[Romani ite domum](/source/Romani_ite_domum)'' on a [reconstruction](/source/historical_reconstruction) of a [Roman settlement in Britain](/source/Roman_Britain), in the [Hull and East Riding Museum](/source/Hull_and_East_Riding_Museum) ]] Writing lines is frequently satirised in popular culture as "a [symbol](/source/symbol) of futile, old-fashioned, [one-size-fits-all](/source/one_size_fits_all) schoolhouse discipline", as in [the chalkboard gag](/source/The_Simpsons_opening_sequence) seen at the beginning of many episodes of ''[The Simpsons](/source/The_Simpsons)'', where [Bart Simpson](/source/Bart_Simpson) writes lines on a chalkboard as a punishment.{{sfn|Turner|2004|p=71}} Other appearances in fiction reflect the figurative belief that "writing has the power to work back on the writer", as in [Franz Kafka](/source/Franz_Kafka)'s 1919 short story "[In the Penal Colony](/source/In_the_Penal_Colony)" in which a punishment device inscribes lines onto the bodies of [criminal](/source/criminal)s with a sharpened writing implement until they [bleed to death](/source/bleed_to_death), or the 2003 book ''[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix](/source/Harry_Potter_and_the_Order_of_the_Phoenix)'' in which [the schoolboy protagonist](/source/Harry_Potter_(character)) is forced to write lines with a magical [quill](/source/quill) which uses his [blood](/source/blood) as [ink](/source/ink).{{harvnb|Schaffner|2019|p=15}} The concept was also used in a satirical way in the film ''[Life of Brian](/source/Monty_Python's_Life_of_Brian)''. Brian attempts to write "Romans go home" (in [Latin](/source/Latin)) on a wall of the local Roman [garrison](/source/garrison), but is spotted by a [Roman soldier](/source/Roman_soldier) who notes that he has made grammatical [error](/source/error_(linguistics))s (''"Romanes eunt domus"'', "A people called the 'Romanes' they go the house?"). Once he gets the [grammar](/source/grammar) right, he is ordered to write the (correct) sentence (''"[Romani ite domum](/source/Romani_ite_domum)"'') all over the [building](/source/building) for the rest of the [night](/source/night), resulting in his future ["fame"](/source/Infamy) when his [graffiti](/source/graffiti) is discovered by the population.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} ==Notes== {{reflist}} ==References== {{Commonscat|Writing lines}} *{{cite book|first=Kerryn|last=Dixon|title=Literacies, Power, and the Schooled Body: Learning in Time and Space|publisher=Routledge|year=2010|isbn=9781136969751}} *{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/817699|jstor=817699|title=Writing as Punishment|journal=The English Journal|volume=74|issue=5|pages=40–42|year=1985|last1=Hogan|first1=Michael Phinney}} *{{cite book|first=Spencer|last=Schaffner|title=Writing as Punishment in Schools, Courts, and Everyday Life|publisher=University of Alabama Press|year=2019|isbn=9780817359553}} *{{cite book |last=Turner |first=Chris |authorlink=Chris Turner (author) |title=Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Documented an Era and Defined a Generation |others=Foreword by [Douglas Coupland](/source/Douglas_Coupland). |edition=1st |year=2004 |location=Toronto |publisher=[Random House Canada](/source/Random_House_Canada) |oclc=55682258 |isbn=978-0-679-31318-2|title-link=Planet Simpson }} Category:School punishments Category:Writing --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Writing lines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing_lines) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writing_lines?action=history)). 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