Hall monitor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A hall monitor is a student volunteer who is charged with maintaining order in a school's corridors. They may be either students who are chosen for the position because they are responsible, or that may be chosen on a rota from all available students.

While specific duties vary between establishments, hall monitors typically check that students who are outside of their classrooms during lesson times have a valid hall pass, maintain overall good conduct in the corridors by preventing running and rowdy behavior, and ensure students are punctual in attending classes. Hall monitors may also be posted to a school's doors in order to prevent unauthorized entry during recess, in which case they may be known as door monitors.

A hall monitor may have extra privilege and authority that is not afforded to other students, though the exact nature varies between schools.

Hall monitors are most commonly found in junior and middle schools within the United States, but they may also be found in other countries under different names, or with slightly different duties.

In the United Kingdom the hall monitor system is not used, however some secondary schools create prefects from the older students who may carry out some of the same duties.

In India the title is only monitor who has responsibilities for assisting teachers in class.

[edit] Popular culture

The concept of the Hall monitor has entered into popular culture in the US, and is frequently used as plot device or script elements in children's entertainment.

In this context, hall monitors are frequently portrayed as being similar to police officers or security guards, and their requests to see students hall passes are commonly used as allegory to requests for ID by the police.

In The Simpsons episode "Separate Vocations", Bart Simpson becomes an authoritarian hall monitor after spending the day on a police ridealong; while in Codename: Kids Next Door episode Operation: P.I.N.K.E.Y.E., the school's hall monitor is portrayed as a corrupt Irish-American detective who turns a blind eye to adult schemes. In the South Park episode "Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy," Eric Cartman grossly abuses his power as hall monitor, which he portrays in the style of Dog the Bounty Hunter. In an episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, entitled Hall Monster, Jimmy becomes a hall monitor and abuses his power.

Examples can also be found in shows such as Fillmore! and Saved by the Bell. In a season episode of Everybody Hates Chris, Chris becomes a hall monitor but no one gives him respect.

The position of hall monitor can also be used in pop culture to show how school children who receive the title can be affected by power. In the Nickelodeon cartoon Hey Arnold, Phoebe (the nice, quiet, brainy girl) succeeds Helga as hall monitor and later becomes a power-hungry tyrant.