 Writing lines is a long-standing form of school discipline, having survived even as other old punishments such as school corporal punishment and dunce hats fell out of favour in the 20th century.In a 1985 study, over half of respondent teachers in an English speaking country indicated awareness of the use of writing to discipline students.In 2019, a third-year secondary school student in Harbin, China, purchased a robot which automates handwriting for in order to complete a homework assignment which involved writing lines.