The Classroom as a Courtroom

Using the metaphor of the classroom as a courtroom promotes insights regarding our school system. For example, in the courtroom, act severity and the presence or absence of a guilty mind determine criminal sentencing. In a similar manner, in the classroom, the respective determinants of performance evaluation are exam score and the presence or absence of effort expenditure. In addition, the purposes of courtroom punishment (utilitarian and retributive) can also be observed in classroom settings and pupil impression management strategies concerning why they performed poorly can be viewed as attempts to communicate mitigating circumstances so that their punishment is lessened. Some additional consequences of this ill-fated metaphor are also examined.