School detention is a form of punishment, recognized as a legal action that teachers and school administrators can take to discipline students. The length of detention time depends on the type of misbehavior; teachers and school administrators decide on the period of punishments. Detention in some schools has even caught press, such as the Fox News report in 2010 that a 10-year-old student in Texas received a week's worth of detention for possessing a piece of candy in class.
According to Lawyers.com, most states in the U.S. require schools to keep permanent records of students. The information contained on permanent records differs in each state. Some of the information regularly kept on permanent records includes basic identity information, transcripts or academic records, teacher evaluations, disciplinary actions (including incidents requiring detention), attendance record, honors and awards.
Permanent records contain all the essential details related to reported misbehavior performed by a student while in school. If a student received detention, the reason is recorded, as well as how many hours spent in detention. Suspensions and other types of disciplinary actions are included. Colleges and universities often disregard the information contained in these sections, but anyone who has a poor or unusually high record for misbehavior might have a more difficult time being accepted to a competitive university.
In most cases, parents and students need not worry about detention seriously affecting college. The basic requirements are usually more simplistic. Nearly all colleges and universities require a high school transcript, admission test scores (such as the SAT), recommendation letters, an essay, a completed application form and sometimes an interview. These requirements generally weigh much more heavily than whether a student did or did not receive detention.