Why assume that giving a bribe or taking away a "privilege" like recess--which I would argue shouldn't be a privilege, but a necessity--is the only option?
Add more work. NOT academics, of course, though I must admit a certain personal fondness for the idea of requiring an essay on justice or something like that to get the point across, even though I can see the drawbacks to using schoolwork as punishment... No, I mean physical labor like cleaning or physical exertion like walking.
"Making the punishment fit the crime" is also a good idea: treat a fellow student badly, and you must cede your place in line to the child or some other such sacrifice. They used to require kids to clap erasers as a form of punishment, and I think requiring some sort of positive service to the school along those lines to counteract the negative service the child has done makes sense to kids. There's a sort of justice in it that appeals to kids.
Or be creative: if a misbehaving child's favorite color is red, make him do his coloring page without a red crayon that day. Something like that would send a very effective message to my DS4, whose love of the color green knows no bounds!
As for bribes, there are some that aren't so bad. Whatever happened to promising extra recesses for well-behaved kids? It's free, it's easy, it's sugar-free, it's healthy, and it always worked on my classes when I was a kid. Or has NCLB made it so that There'sNoTimeInOurBusyBusyScheduleForThat?
*sigh*
And, of course, there's always Stuart Little's solution...
Those are just off the top of my head. If I were a teacher with a chronically misbehaving class, I'd spend more than the 2 minutes I just spent brainstorming/researching some creative solutions. (Though in my experience, people who are dedicated and creative enough to be willing to brainstorm/research other options usually don't NEED to because they're already being creative and interesting enough in the classroom to keep the kids' attention, and they don't HAVE chronic behavior problems! :p )
