I am put off by the way teachers discipline children in public schools...?

Question

Instead of helping children to problemsolve with other children step by step, teachers solve the problem by scolding them or telling them what to do and what not to do and what they should have done. Instead of understanding why children misbehave and helping them find a better solution, teachers punish or reward the behavior. They focus on the bad behavior and react to it in a way that doesn't help children grow and instead affect self esteem. Teachers need to do more than punish and reward behavior. Children are not animals. Check out a doggy training video and you'll see that they use the same discipline techniques used on children. If the children sit when they are supposed to and stay seated they get a , verbal reward "good job". If they help out or finish a task, they get a gummy bear or something good to eat (doggy bone, or pat ) instead of seeing the contribution they had when they helped. Is it just me or is there a problem with out school system?

By the way I am a teacher! An early childhod teacher that continues to read and take profesional growth classes. I'm a mother of three beautiful children under six that misbehave because its "appropriate" and a normal behavior. The difference between YOU and ME is that I know child development and know that my job as a teacher is to guide children in showing them how to behave versus REACTING to the childs misbehavior (which is what most k-8 grade teachers do) by punishing them. Hello ! children do think and can learn if you show proper ways of behaving. It's called talking to children, PROBLEMSOLVING. Children aren't born knowing what to do, thats why children misbehave. It's our job to teach. For the teachers that are getting offended, teaching is not for you because if you get put off when children misbehave and expect them to know what to do and not test limits than your in the wrong business. The schools need to stop using fear-based discipline!

To smsherri regarding negative and possitive reinforcement. You need to update your info on teaching. Again children are not dogs! Stop talking to them and treating them like animals. How would you like it if you did a mistake at work and your boss shouted at you or sent you home for the day or took your lunch hour as a punishment. Don't you see? he is focusing on your behavior only versus him teaching you what to do next time. LEARNING DOESN'T HAVE TO HURT. Did you know that when people are upset its hard to problem solve? (Conscious Discipline By Dr. Becky A. Bailey). Did you also know that it takes 2000 times in context in order for a concept to become a program in a childs mind? I guess that answers How many times do I have to tell you...You have a behaviorist point of view. All of those pos/neg reinforcement experiments were done on rats, dogs and pigeons!!! We have got to move on! Read: Punished be Rewards by Alfred Kohn.

Answer 1

Obvioulsy, you are NOT a teacher.

When children misbehaves in my class, (example: a child continually gets out of their seat without permission) I DO discuss with them the 1st time they do it, why it is important for them to be in their seat. What would happen if everyone was out of their seat? How is it helping them learn if they are out of their seat? The second time I would simply redirect them back to their seat and warn them that they will face a consequence if they do it again. I will also ask them about the reasons we discussed earlier. The third time...they will have to face a consequence. Yes, I reward students for good behavior. They have earned it for not disrupting the class.

Do you understand that when I have to go through this step by step process it disrupts the rest of the class, takes a lot of time, and the other students suffer.

Perhaps if parentsgo through this lengthy step by step problem solving process at home, the children will not misbehave every day at school. I find that most of these kids have NO discipline at home. This is the core of the problem.

Answer 2

I know you aren't talking about all teachers because that would not be true. And if you are, then I'm offended. As a teacher I continually promote problem solving. When a student "tattles" or has a problem with another, I redirect him/her to solve the problem. Like you said, they aren't born knowing what to do and so I guide them in the problem solving process. When a student comes to me and says (for example) I left my math homework at home. I ask them, how can you solve this problem? How can I help you to solve this problem? They won't learn anything if the teacher solves the problems for them. We are responsible for teaching them to solve their own problems.....teachers and parents can't follow their kids around all the time. Right?

Granted, as a teacher-especially of young children-you know you can't problem solve every little problem that comes up in a day. Sometimes you have to make the decision, you have to discipline a student for poor behavior choices. God, if you have enough time in the day to stop and walk a child though solving the problem every time, you must not get much else done.

In the end, you teach students what you expect of them. You reward them when they do well and you help them correct mistakes. There is nothing wrong with rewarding students.

To answer your question: Yes, there is a problem with our school system. No, it's not with the way we discipline our students.

Answer 3

Kids are animals...I know I have seen them and been one.

People are too soft on kids these days..there is nothing wrong with a kid that a good @ss whipping won't cure and all these new age ideas on child raising are creating a soft, useless generation that cannot handle anything of real life as demonstrated by the VAST increase in Adults on Prozac and Zoloft and all that crap.

Kids from 0-15 don't have the mental capacity to reason out all their lessons, if any. They NEED to be taught right vs wrong since 3+3 will never be 345 no matter what they "feel like". You need to start with basics then when the child GROWS UP you can start with creative thinking but it is hard to have a kid come up with creative problem solving if they think 2X2=doggy.



:O) Lea> you got B's and didn't hand in anything and failed tests...well boo hoo. Kids CANNOT be treated equal since kids are different, some are smarter and some work harder and some sit around like a dope. Why should we reward the dopes who do squat with equal treatment? That's not fair to those who do the work and those who earn their grades. Maybe as hard as you tried you didn't earn High B's and that was why you got 80's. Maybe they expected more as you got older and more capable of doing the work. Either way if you EARNED better than 80 you go to the Principle and have it addressed.

Answer 4

As a teacher, my solution: Buy computers for every household, offer distance web classes. We offer the knowledge, the parents deal with the social issues, the discipline, etc. To many parents the school has become the daycare center that they drop their kids off at so they can go to work or in some (many) cases, laze around the house all day. I have had parents who have left their kids at the school an extra 3-4 hours because they forgot their kid was there, were shopping and lost track of time, fell asleep and did not wake up, etc. I do not get paid overtime folks, there is no such thing for teachers, we do not get paid by the clock, and if we did, you could not afford us! Why do I still do it. I love teaching and I love my students, in some cases it is the only time they have felt safe and loved in their lives even.

can of soup - $.99
box of crayons - $1.00
a student saying "I love you" and meaning it! - priceless!

Additionally, step by step problem solving social skills are many times culturally sensitive items, not one size fits all! Respect for others should be taught in the home, sadly it is not. 10 + years ago, you either followed the rules or you faced expulsion, etc. Maybe you need to become proactive in the raising of your child. In other words, why don't you grow up, take charge and teach your child the things you should be and we teachers will do our jobs like we are supposed to be doing. Social skills are not a mandated curriculum in my state and God forbid we try it, parents will think of it as 'mind control'

Answer 5

Although there are some teachers who are ineffective at handling order in the classroom, one must take into account that behavior of the student is also the responsibility of the parent(s). Ill-behaved students require discipline in the home.

Additionally, many schools have a particular lesson plan that must be followed and completed over a certain period of time. These lesson plans lead to standardized testing in many cases.

The school system is only part of the problem; oftentimes, the children lack proper instruction at home, too.

Answer 6

It sounds like you need to get your education degree and then teach for a while. It isn't the teachers who have the problem, it's the parents. They send kids to school with the attitude that nobody can touch them or make them do anything. The kids don't behave because they know mommy and daddy believe anything they say and if they whine, parents come rushing to school to crush the teacher. After a few years of dealing with this, the teachers plain old give up. Give teaching a try. Let's see how well you do with a classroom full of ill behaved children with equally ill behaved parents!

Answer 7

I do not think it is teacher's alone who "display" this behavior. What about parents? Do you not reward your child for doing something good? What about potty training? Did you not reward your child for going on the potty with a positive reinforcement like "good job"?

We are animals, whether you like it or not! We learn through behavior and we respond to different stimuli and reinforcements. A good teacher will try to reinforce both positive and negative behaviors with positive reinforcements whenever possible. This is necessary not only to the school but the society in general.

Answer 8

Wow, Mel_70 said it all. I would be happy to have any parent or community member follow me for a few days and see what my teaching day is like. Conformity is necessary in some situations so that learning can occur. Many of these kids do not know how to listen or follow directions. Part of it is from technology and the need to be entertained 24 hours a day. But part of it is also discipline.
You need to remember that when your child comes home and tells you what happened in class, it is always with a slanted point of view.
My own children's kindergarten teacher used to tell us "If you promise not to believe everything your child tells you that happens at school, I promise not to believe everything he tells me that happens at home!"

Answer 9

My cousins go to Catholic School and its worse than my public school. But because there arent a lot of students that go to private school there probley isn't a lot of bad things that go on. There arent that many problems but yeah everyone at my school does drugs and there are some fights but not very many. There isnt really a big bully that picks on everyone

Answer 10

Big problem. It's not going to get any better, because experienced teachers are retiring. Long term teachers are soon to be a ting opf the past. New teachers can't give children the guidance they need to develop into productive people. They can't teach, either. Teacher turnover is huge. Nobody wants to keep teaching as a career anymore. It's just not worth it.