From the Beatles to Bach

Music is one of my great loves. From the Beatles to Bach, Sinatra to the Stones, my record – sorry - itunes playlist is a source of great pride to me. So it was with a large amount of interest that I viewed reports on the BBC about a Derby school that has used classical music during detention to tackle unruly behaviour. Instantly I was filled with thoughts of music taming the, ahem, savage beast – for want of a better phrase. But, alas, I was wrong. It seems that Mozart is actually being used as a form of punishment, rather than a way of reaching out to the more badly-behaved children in this particular school.

Now I admit that classical music can be an acquired taste but I’m not sure I would see it on a par with writing lines or cleaning graffiti off a wall. In the case of West Park School in Derby, however, it is played at volume during detention and has had the desired effect – detention rates are falling. Pupils do not want to sit in quiet reflection to a soundtrack of Elgar, Mozart, Verdi or Bach, it seems. While I wouldn’t have thought that classical music would be the sort blaring from their MP3 players through their EU-regulation defying headphones, I am surprised it has proven to be a better deterrent than more traditional forms of punishment. Still, if it works, it works – that’s my motto (in terms of education, household DIY and the unusual sartorial pairing of green flairs with my favourite purple shirt). Personally, I’d much prefer to sit and listen to Mozart than the new single of an X Factor winner, but there’s no accounting for taste, I suppose.