A group of middle school students recently complained to authorities that one of their teachers is confused about the difference between humiliating young people and teaching them. The dress code at the school requires students to wear white socks. It so happens that the teacher ordered students wearing socks of any other color to strip them from their feet and toss them into a box. They were then told to reach inside the box, pull out a pair of their classmate's socks, and wear them. The students were also unhappy about the teacher's using physical labor as punishment. If they fall asleep in class or hand in their homework late, they may be assigned chores such as cleaning the classrooms or scrubbing toilets. The musical socks routine does not smell quite right to me. I believe that we should treat others as we want them to treat us, and I am quite sure that forcing someone to wear my socks would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. The students gripe about physical labor, but isn't the real problem the portrayal of work as punishment? My peers and I viewed work not as punishment but as a reasonable duty we owed to our classmates and elders. Using labor on campuses as a penalty teaches the wrong lesson.