We are in a dynamic world and things are changing very fast. Not only things but the way we look at things also is undergoing change. New ideas are emerging; some genuine old ideas are also being rediscovered. One such rediscovered idea is banning corporal punishment. But there is a lot of debate over this issue. Some (parents, teachers, society) are of the view that children are becoming unruly and indisciplined due to this rule as they believe in ‘spare the rod and spoil the child’ philosophy. Others take a sigh of relief saying ‘My Goodness, at last we recognized it and made it a rule’.
There are a good number of parents and teachers who get really concerned at the entire gamut of reward and punishment and seek a way out of this tricky dilemma. They want a proper way of having discipline in the class and the campus without having to resort to corporal punishment.
What is discipline? Discipline for me means doing the right thing in the right way and at the right time. For this, one has to watch oneself as to what one is doing which is self discipline and thereby we understand whether we are disciplined or not.
Can discipline be ensured with harsh words and punishment? The answer is a categorical ‘No’. Then how can we achieve it? The following few points I believe will go in a long way in bringing about discipline.
Be disciplined first: Whether we are parents or teachers, let us be disciplined first. If we are punctual, honest, sincere the same can be expected from the students. Be aware of the hidden curriculum that we transact through our attitude, behavior and our personality. Let me narrate an incident from the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Once a woman came to him with her child who would not stop eating jaggery in spite of her best efforts to stop him from doing so. The Mahatma told her to come after a week. When she called on him after a week, Gandhiji told the child not to eat too much of jaggery as it would harm his digestion. Surprised, the woman asked the Mahatma why he waited for the whole week to tell this simple thing. Gandhiji replied ‘I my self was eating jaggery at that time. If I had told him not to do so, it would have had no effect on the child.’Let us stand as role models to the students.
Have caring eyes: Look at children always with love and affection. Remember looks can kill at times. Feelings are communicated much faster than the words through our body language. Whatever sweet or kind words we speak, if our feelings convey ignorance, hate, not love and care, mockery etc. it will be a futile exercise.
Respect is mutual: Often we expect that children should respect us. However, it is a two way process and more so now-a-days. Let us realize this and move. A few ways to command respect could be by giving the children academic help, playing team games with them, accompanying them on trips, understanding their emotional problems etc.
Liberal use of golden words: We all learnt in our childhood the three golden words through rhyme but unfortunately either we don’t use them or use them sparingly. Really these words ‘please’, ‘sorry’ and ‘thank you’ are golden and they work wonders.
Acknowledge and appreciate positive traits: Each child wants to be recognized. The urge to be recognized is universal. Don’t miss the opportunity to appreciate the good deeds or desirable behaviour of the students. Instead of nagging on the undesirable behaviour or indisciplined acts, search for the positive aspects of the child’s personality and start from there.
Make a list of consequences for acts of indiscipline: If a student is aware of the consequences of his indiscipline acts, he will think twice before indulging in such acts. It will be better if the student body is made to participate in framing the rules and consequences.
Let me quote Maulana Wahiddudin Khan from ‘The Speaking Tree’, he explains why violent methods do not work. According to him these methods give a valid reason for the other person to react or retaliate. Moreover, the attention shifts to the punisher and the punishment rather than the act committed.
The punished keeps this hurt and carries it for long and shows it in many different violent or irritating ways. That eventually increases violence thereby indiscipline. Mr. Khan also explains why the peaceful method so effective. The reason is that the peaceful method hits the conscience of a person. And when the conscience is hit, the person concerned has no option but to surrender to you.
He gives a classic example of our independence struggle which started in 1857 with a violent approach. We could not achieve it even till 1919, however from 1919 onwards the approach was different led by Gandhiji which brought us freedom in less than 30 years.
Let me compare these two approaches -peaceful as well as punishment- with two types of treatments. Peaceful approach is like ayurvedic or homoeopathy approach which brings changes without any side effects whereas punishment like allopathy shows momentary results and mostly with lot of side effects. The side effects will only increase with the increase in the dose of medicine.
Dear teaching fraternity, when Gandhiji could bring freedom without violence, can’t we bring discipline amongst students without punishment?!
1 comment:
Well it is true. The concept and approach towards a disciplined generations definitely will not come through corporal punishment.
Although(sometimes) corporal punishment does have instant positve response from the children, that would definitely impact the psychology of the child and that would affect in child's long term career.
physical abuse and corporal punishments are techniques used by unprofessional and immature elders.
The change in the kids is only possible through love, affection and caring. And ofcourse, through some convincing moral explanations like "Gandhiji's jaggery stroy".
When we should be able to make the kids understanding at their awareness level the discipline is definitely achieved.
As most of the parents are common men they would not be having the professional or matured skills to bring the children in to the right order and they obviously follow the easy technique of verbal and nonverbal abuse (as think they right to do such things) with their kids. Hence it is the duty of teachers and professionals to adapt wise methods to bring kids in a disciplinary manner.
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