Illogical punishment destroys school life<\/p>\n
Rachel Davies, Sydney<\/p>\n
Every time I arrive in Jakarta I notice how severe the traffic
\ncongestion seems to be and, unfortunately, how it only seems to
\nbe getting worse. When I pass comment on this to Indonesian
\nfriends or colleagues the answer almost always is the same \"yes,
\ntoo many cars and not enough discipline\". There seems to be a
\nkind of resignation that drivers have no discipline.<\/p>\n
A friend followed this observation up with the statement that
\nIndonesians have so many rules in their lives but they never
\nreally learn from them or follow them. He went on to describe
\nthat for him school-life was an endless series of warnings and
\ncrazy punishments that left him hating the idea of rules; for him
\nthey just made no sense.<\/p>\n
This is of course very sad and very wrong because rules should
\nbe there to help and guide us but unfortunately I can understand
\nwhy he would emerge from his school career in Indonesia with such
\na negative perception. The sad reality is that crazy and
\nillogical rules and punishments have been applied for far too
\nlong and appear to be continuing.<\/p>\n
In recent visits with school students and parents I have heard
\nstories of punishments and attempts at discipline that, quite
\nfrankly, I thought as they say \"had died out with the dinosaurs\".
\nFor example, I thought that teachers had long ago realized the
\ncomplete waste and stupidity of demanding that a \"naughty\"
\nstudent should be punished by having to write out one hundred
\ntimes \"I must not do this\" or \"I will not do that\" or \"I should
\nnot do some other thing.\"<\/p>\n
The only time recently that I have seen a student doing this
\nsenseless thing is the cartoon character Bart Simpson in the
\ntitle section of The Simpsons television show and that sequence
\nis only really there as a joke. But sadly this useless punishment
\ncan be no joke for Indonesian students because they can still
\nhave it applied to them.<\/p>\n
It is simply a totally worthless activity that serves
\nabsolutely no useful purpose -- no wonder students can and will
\nform negative attitudes when exposed to this concept of
\ndisciplinary actions! Useless punishments like this do nothing to
\ncreate good concepts of discipline or allow students to
\ninternalize appropriate behavior. But worse still are situations
\nin which physical violence is resorted to by teachers in the name
\nof discipline.<\/p>\n
Again regrettably recent discussions with parents and students
\nhave revealed examples of ways in which people that should be
\nproviding good examples for students (that is the apparent
\nteachers and educators here) are in fact providing examples of
\nerratic and undisciplined behavior that can only be counter-
\nproductive in any efforts to foster more disciplined conduct.<\/p>\n
One student described to me recently how her mathematics
\nteachers will often lose his temper, so much so that the students
\nare practically in fear of him. In one incident with this ill-
\ntempered teacher a board eraser was thrown at a talkative
\nstudent. The result of this appalling behavior by the teacher was
\na cut above the eye for the student.<\/p>\n
Luckily for the teacher he was able to get away with this
\nbehavior; it seems as though the student was something of a tough
\ncase and made nothing of the incident but there can be little
\ndoubt that in most instances a teacher of this kind would be
\nfacing serious repercussions not least among which would be an
\nimmediate suspension likely to be followed up with dismissal from
\nhis position in the school.<\/p>\n
Other examples exist too of illogical and largely futile
\nefforts being adopted and implemented amongst weak claims of
\ninstalling and instilling discipline. A good example of this is
\nthe exclusion or even just the threat of exclusion from either
\ncertain classes or from school entirely. This is not discipline
\nin action or punishment serving a purpose; it is inaction and
\nresignation from the task of providing discipline and it is
\ntotally ineffective as punishment. Punishment should have some
\nreconstructive element in order to be effective. Exclusion offers
\nno prospect of reconstruction.<\/p>\n
Students being thrown out of their classes or even school
\nleaves problems unresolved and\/ or even added to. Discipline
\nneeds to increase understanding of appropriate behavior and
\npunishment needs to be just sufficient to reprimand and redirect
\nattention and action. Both discipline and punishment should
\nprovide lessons and learning for the students but they cannot
\npossibly work if the student is left to feel ashamed or abused as
\na result of being \"disciplined\" or \"punished\".<\/p>\n
It is acceptable and quite reasonable that a student should
\nfeel a certain degree of discomfort if he or she is guilty of
\ndoing wrong but that discomfort should not really be attached to
\nputting the person to shame.<\/p>\n
Illogical and largely ineffective punishment is far more
\nlikely to arouse further problems when, in fact, it should be
\ndiffusing them. A while ago I was reading a \"defense of the poor\"
\nagainst the claim that they were habitually criminal in their
\nelement. The writer highlighted that this was not at all true
\nbecause, in fact, \"poor people no more wish to be criminals than
\nany other people. It is just circumstances that can sometimes
\nforce them down such a road out of desperation.\"<\/p>\n
The point that was ultimately made was that most often
\ncriminal behavior or misdemeanors are far more likely \"acquired
\nhabits\" that have not been checked and corrected. Effectively,
\nthen, a wrong-doer may repeat offend if not constructively and
\nintelligently redirected away from the undesirable behavior.<\/p>\n
This sentiment should be active in the thoughts of teachers
\nwhen considering discipline and their implementation of
\npunishment. Student misbehavior can be, and most likely is,
\nmisdirected energy and activity that needs to be carefully
\nredirected by the teacher. With such positive redirection the
\nmisdemeanor may just be a one-off slip-up and will not be allowed
\nto become a habit. Such re-directive disciplining is both logical
\nand constructive to the life of the school.<\/p>\n
The writer is an education consultant and can be reached at
\nrachdavies@hotmail.com.<\/p>\n
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