School Discipline

Question:

I’d like your opinion on the following discipline technique used by one of my 7th grade son’s teachers: 

My son’s table (4 students) was told to leave the classroom during correction of a test because someone at the table was talking. The teacher knew who was talking. She told all four students that the guilty party needed to come forward and confess or the three non-guilty students needed to confidentially come forward and tell her who was doing the talking. 

In talking with this teacher, I was told that she uses peer pressure as a technique for maintaining control over her class. She can’t keep her eye on everyone and relies on students to tell her who is misbehaving. In this specific instance, she told the 4 students that each of them would receive a zero on the last page of their test unless one of them revealed who did the talking. She knows it was not my son, but she maintains her policy of holding the entire table responsible for the actions of anyone at the table. I do not like this technique. It requires students to tattle on each other. I’d like your opinion of this technique and whether you think it is effective or appropriate and why. 

Thanks for your help. 

Brenda