Читать книгу Practical School Discipline: Introductory Course - Ray Coppock Beery - Страница 9

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The proper decision in cases of discipline is so extremely important that the cases which may arise in each grade should be treated separately. For example, all the problems which may present themselves to the first grade teacher may be recorded under the head “First Grade” and the remedy given for each case. The same is true of the second grade and so on through the High School. Special and very definite instructions should be framed for the proper discipline of pupils of various ages in the same room of the country school.

The methods must be safe methods. Some times an unenlightened teacher will use a method which not only fails to get good results but which actually aggravates the trouble. The very nature of the methods given in this Course is such that a teacher may be sure the best possible plan is being employed, viewed from the standpoint of positive good results that will surely follow.

The teacher will find it a great source of pleasure to have the subject of discipline so well in mind and so thoroughly analyzed and thought out that when a case arises, he can not only apply a method which he thinks is right but one which he knows is right.

Oftentimes, a teacher is confronted with such a difficult situation that no matter what method is applied, good results will not be seen immediately. In such cases it is extremely assuring for a teacher to know that the particular method which he has applied is the best possible method that could be used in that situation.

In the treatment of all cases, not only are the correct methods outlined in detail, but fundamental reasons should be given showing why the method suggested is the best in each case. In the treatment of all cases, applications are to be made of the fundamental principles.

There are not a few teachers, as well as parents, who continue to use physical force in attempting to govern. It is indeed appalling how blind some people are on matters of discipline.

They will get poor results repeatedly from applying a given method and yet they fail to see that their child’s bad behavior is due to their own faulty method. Why do not parents think about changing their own method which causes the child to misbehave instead of forever blaming the child? This is a question that is not easy to answer. Business men, after finding that a certain form of advertising does not pay, discontinue that form of advertising and yet they are not half so reasonable in their own homes.

For instance, it is a common occurrence for a parent to flog a child for telling a falsehood. The child continues to tell falsehoods one day after another and the parent continues to use the punishing method. Seldom, if ever, does the parent think of changing his method.

Often, when interviewing parents about a child, they will offer some reason for punishing which to them seems perfectly sound but they ignore the fact that fear of punishment is one of the chief causes of falsifying and that to punish for a known falsehood today makes the child more secretive tomorrow.

Many persons likewise, base obedience upon fear of punishment. Their children know that when they hear a command, they must obey at once or receive a whipping. Here is a logical proposition: If obedience is based upon fear instead of confidence; that is, if the child obeys only through fear, then when fear is gradually removed (at fourteen or fifteen when the child begins to feel the assurance of manhood) obedience naturally becomes weaker. Many parents wonder what is wrong when they lose control of their adolescent boys and girls; yet the reason is perfectly obvious. If obedience is based upon confidence, as it should be, the changes which accompany adolescence will not remove the only basis of obedience, as in the case of fear, but will make the parents’ grasp even more secure.

Many parents are thoughtful enough to have at least their own reason for using a certain method, while others, unfortunately, hardly think at all. They have one method which they attempt to use as a cure for all bad traits as well as for particular misdemeanors. A situation presents itself and because of some pre-conceived notion, the same old remedy is suggested and administered.

What is true of a great many parents in this regard is also true of a great many teachers. If parents and teachers were to try some practical tests in discipline, keep a record on paper of the treatment of certain offenses followed immediately by the obvious results of those methods, and then draw reasonable conclusions at the end of a week or a month, they would have something valuable to work upon.

Most educators advise the use of corporal punishment as a last resort, yet far too many teachers in carrying out this advice really use it not only as a last resort but as a first, last and only resort. Here is the situation—in fact, a very common situation for a teacher who does not have the confidence of his pupils. A boy is told to do or not to do a certain thing. He openly disobeys. The teacher feels that he must make an example of him and humiliate him at once before the school.

“Let us conclude, then, that the day of corporal punishment as an important agency in school discipline has passed never to return. And let us also conclude that its passing is not yet complete and can not be complete until social customs and prejudices have been thoroughly adjusted to the new order and until effective methods of dealing with acute disciplinary difficulties have been discovered, standardized and made effective by general recognition.”^[1]

In this brief Introductory Course, one can not go much into detail on any one point. In regard to punishment, however, this hint is in place. If anyone is interested enough to really find out for himself and settle in his own mind once for all, questions concerning correct discipline, let him personally interview a large number of boys. Let him get some of their views. Let him talk over the matter frankly with some other teacher’s pupils. He will thereby not only enlighten himself as to the best policy about punishing boys but the experience of talking in a confidential way with big-hearted boys (and they will all seem big-hearted if only he assumes that they are) will give him a new inspiration and a more optimistic view about his future discipline in the school-room. He will feel more capable of appealing to the child’s mind and heart and will see less necessity than ever before for having to force even the most stubborn child to do his bidding.

The author’s own view on punishment is this: the more a teacher knows about child nature and correct fundamental principles, the less he will need to use corporal punishment. The aim of this Course is to present the teacher with such concrete information, based upon a correct knowledge of child nature, that its application by the teacher will enable him to succeed in discipline without any corporal punishment whatsoever.

Of course, there will always be exceptions. A certain pupil may be apparently abnormal and extremely hard to govern. But even with the proverbial exception, really surprising things can be accomplished by the application of wise methods.

The aim, stated above, is not unreasonable. The author has clear evidence of this. In his own town, the superintendent of schools went so far as to allow even the pupils to know that he would not punish them with physical pain. He explained why he would not and the result was wonderful, as he expected. Instead of the pupils taking advantage of such a policy, it appealed to them. They respected this superintendent. They realized that he was there to help them and they allowed him to do so.

1.W. C. Bagley, School Discipline, p. 194. Macmillan.