Discipline In Schools Is Possible Without Corporal Punishment
Instilling Discipline In Children Whithout Caning
In my previous post I talked about the possibility of bringing back corporal punishment in schools to discipline children.
Corporal punishment may have worked well 40-60 years ago but we are now in the mass information age and what worked then cannot necessarily work now.
On 20th November 1989 in New York City The Convention On The Rights Of The Child was adopted by the UN General Assembly.Its aim was to ensure children were protected from hard and exploitation especially in times of war.
Rights Of The Child
Children need to be disciplined yes , of that there is no question.The aim of disciplining children is to educate them on why they are being punished.The Why is very important here.Children need to understand why they are being punished.
Yes the cane is a solid deterrent but it can have grave side effects if overly used.Much like the over use of antibiotics caused bacteria to become resistant repeatedly caning a student makes him or her (especially him ) develop resistance to corporal punishment over time.
Another disadvantage of caning is that it does not look at the WHY of the errant behaviour in the child.Especially if the behaviour is recurring.We need to address the root cause of the problem , not just do surface analysis with misguided assumptions.
To address the Why of the errant behaviour in the child a trained psychologist is required or in the case of schools a school counsellor.In the absence of one the child`s teacher(s) need to get the know the child`s background.Where he/she is coming from.
We need to find out whether the child`s behaviour has suddenly changed or whether naughtiness and indiscipline has been there from the start.
A sudden change could indicate a change in home circumstances like a death of a loving parent most likely the mother , parents divorcing , the introduction of a step parent and step siblings who could be bullying the child , the child being forced to live with relatives due to the loss of one or both parents and such like.
Inbuilt naughtiness is a character trait which with careful reasoning can be addressed,
In such circumstances getting angry and punishing the child will not help obviously,A different approach is needed one of care and compassion to help the child.
As a teacher you teach diverse learners and teachers are only human to look more favourably on the brighter more attentive students and less favourably upon the "dumber ones",But we now know that intelligence is not just of one type but around nine different types.Every child is unique
One thing is very clear.Children need to be taught and in a way they can understand the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.The key words here are "In A Way They Can Understand" .
So what are the alternative ways of disciplining a child apart from the cane.And when and for what should the child be disciplined ?
Firstly the child should only be disciplined if he/she is causing a disturbing other students in the class.The best solution for this is to ask the child to leave the classroom and stand outside.In the 80`s the child would have been asked to kneel down outside the class or in the sunshine but today that approach is not practicable.
Some schools have sheds built where errant students can go and sit and do what they want.But to me this sends the message to the child that can resort to indiscipline and no one can touch them.So the purpose of disciplining the child has failed altogether .The purpose being to let the child know that class room rules have to be respected.
Asking a child to stand outside and miss the lesson will make him/her realise that what they did is wrong as they will then have to refer to classmates to relearn what was taught and perhaps have missed out on something important,
After the child has served his /her punishment the teacher in charge should try to find out especially if the misbehaviour is recurring why the child is disturbing his/her classmates.One reason could be the subject matter does not interest them or they already know what is being taught having read about it on their own.
For the former the teacher should try to explain to the child how what they are studying can benefit them perhaps by practical examples.One subject which many students find difficult to understand is mathematics which many find difficult to understand because of its abstract principles and rules
If the child is bored because they know the subject matter well , he/she should be given a chance to demonstrate their knowledge to the class.After all a teacher must accept they cannot know everything and could even learn something new
Education today unlike 30-50 years ago aims to develop the creativity and brain storming abilities of children and to tap into their relevant intelligence and develop it further.Today we know that every child is unique and a school child should not be forced to learn things they don`t like or are not interested in.
Disciplining a child should only be done where they are causing a disturbance to other students and not for poor grades or the inability to understand what is being taught.
Poor grades or a slow learning child needs to be encouraged and uplifted by an understanding teacher and/or a trained counsellor.
As every child is different with unique abilities.
What are your thoughts on the above?
Please let me know in the comments
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