Students need compassion instead of punishment
““Chadi lage cham-cham vidhya aaye gham-gham…””
Indicates that with caning, knowledge comes spontaneously and thus subsuming such beliefs, punishment has been practised in Indian schools for several years in the garb of disciplining students. The Government of India commissioned research that included over 3,000 children aged from 5 to 18, who were asked about physical abuse by teachers and the results showed that children experienced routine violence, and boys experiencing particularly high levels, in all age groups and 65% reported being beaten at school (Morrow & Singh, 2016). This accepted norm of violence towards children by teachers is a far cry from the child-centred pedagogy envisaged in both the National Curriculum Framework (2005) and the Right to Education Act (2009), as well as from the Government of India’s commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC Committee, 2006).
Teachers using such forms of harsh disciplining strategies seek to justify their actions on the ground that such punishment was given for the child’s own benefit, for their best interest, the objective being to reform the child and prohibit recurrence of bad behaviour. Teachers also believe that using punishment helps students to obey and show unilateral respect to them.
“I think teachers punish us because they feel the need to ‘control’ the classroom but I still remember the time one of my teachers made me kneel down in front of the whole class with both my arms raised for something I did in the 8th grade. If you ask me now what was the reason for it, I wouldn’t remember. All I remember was the shame and embarrassment I felt because of it. So then where is the learning then? Also, if you ask any student who their favourite teacher is, they would name someone empathetic and compassionate not someone strict who punishes because that is the kind of role model we would like.”
Wasserman (2016), emphasised that when teachers reprimand students for making certain choices or guide them from one choice to another, it shows where their opinions lie regarding what is acceptable and what is not. When they discipline children for making mistakes, they model for them how they should react to themselves when they make mistakes. Discipline is not only about teaching students what is right and wrong, discipline is about modelling for them the way they should feel about themselves when they make mistakes. A major part of this process is emotional regulation, or the ability to self-regulate when having “big feelings” (when one is very angry, happy, sad etc.).
“Compassionate reasoning is better over punishment. If punished, students get offended and could act out. Hence, the very need to discipline goes down the drain.”
“Personally I don’t like being punished so naturally I am against it. Whether a student feels punished or not, also depends on the student characteristics and perception. I generally engage in a conversation with them, try getting to know the reasons. I use incentives whenever required.”
“Though compassion is the best way to deal with, in classroom situation it doesn’t work always. I am not one for punishment. The best way is one to one conversation which does wonders.”
Harsh practices such as corporal punishment have the propensity to isolate students and impact their learning negatively (Gershoff, 2017; Portela & Pells, 2015). A meta-analysis (Gershoff & Grogan-Kaylor, 2016) conducted indicated negative patterns of associations between physical punishment and behavioural and mental health outcomes in children as well as further harm to the mental and behavioural development of children and adolescents (Betancourt & Khan, 2008). Punishment and psychological aggression, can serve to distance children from the teachers, undermine trust and confidence in children and adolescents and suppress meaningful language and social exchanges between students and teachers in school (Yildirim & Roopnarine, 2017). In a study by Deb, Kumar, Holden & Rowe (2017) students who experienced corporal punishment in schools reported experiencing more depressive symptoms, anxiety, as well as lower levels of resiliency than other youth.
“When teachers despair of some students’ aggravating or even chronic negative behaviours, I usually ask them – ‘Do you want to punish children for the wrong they did or help them correct their behaviour?’ Without fail they choose the latter and that stems from a place of compassion! Undoubtedly teachers often struggle make to compassion work as an essential skill to engage with their students, but they instinctively understand that that’s the right thing to do. When we punish children, it can impact them in possibly 2-3 ways - they could become rebellious or they could just withdraw into a shell or they could just laugh it off as a hollow threat. None of these could possibly have any positive effects. However, when we engage with students with one-on-one with genuineness, empathy, positive regard, we gain the leverage to help them take responsibility for their actions. To me that would be handling students with compassion.”
‘Compassionate positive discipline teaches young people to become responsible, respectful and resourceful member of their communities. Discipline shapes a student’s behaviour and helps them to learn self-control when there is encouragement. This encouragement is a type of reward that stimulates the student to work, learn and achieve’ (Thakur, 2017). The application of positive discipline by teachers that are consistent with the common educational practices in humanistic psychology as well as with perspectives of strength-based education, positive prevention and positive psychology also have a direct influence on teaching effectiveness as perceived by students. It also helps to create a good learning environment, making school living environment a protecting factor in developing well-being among students (Wang & Kuo, 2019).
“We see a lot of adolescents who have various mental health issues because of harsh punishments experienced in school and these maybe both physical and verbal punishments. Punishments, which are not appropriate to the age of the student, their physical and intellectual conditions or the misbehaviour itself, do not help the students to understand or to correct their behaviour. In fact, it can cause long term negative impact on their attachment patterns, self-esteem, self-regulation, frustration tolerance and ability to experience positive emotion and emotional closeness. Compassionate understanding, empathetic listening and positive regard towards students can go a long way where they understand why and how they are being disciplined”
Forging Ahead:
Despite partial or full legislative bans on school Corporal punishment both in India and in more than 125 countries (Global Initiative to End all Corporal Punishment of Children, 2015), punishment still continues to be widely used and seem out of kilter with everyday realities. The bans can be potentially enforced by imposing significant consequences on teachers or school administrators who disregard the law and continue to use harsh disciplinary techniques.
Chika and Ezemba (2019), proposed that rules should be adopted and the students should also be involved in the process of setting the rules of the classroom to motivate them to take responsibilities about their behaviour. When students are involved in making rules and regulations that guide them, they voluntarily submit to these rules that they understand and accept.
Sadik (2017) has suggested that it should be the school’s agenda to change the negative attitude of teachers towards discipline and they should be supported to improve their knowledge and skills about preventing punishment and improving discipline through in-service teacher training programs. They can be made aware of the possible negative impact of punishment on the students by regular/ periodic workshops for teachers to share their experiences and learn from each other and from experts who could help them manage difficult situations.
The Guidelines for eliminating Corporal Punishment in schools delineates that when there is a difficult situation, it can be resolved by a process of triangulation between the student/family, the teacher/school administration and a student council (if available). If the situation is not so much a discipline issue but a psychological one, professional attention and psychological care can be recommended. When teachers view problem behaviours of a child as a product of interaction of various psycho-social and biological factors it helps to understand that the child needs help rather than punishment.
Lastly, there is a pressing need for school administrators and teachers around the globe to adopt more positive educational approaches. For example, there is now evidence that techniques such as ‘school-wide positive behavioral interventions’ (e.g., Bradshaw, Mitchell, & Leaf, 2010) or ‘restorative justice’ (e.g., Wearmouth, Mckinney, & Glynn, 2007), or ‘collaborative problem solving’ (Greene, 2011) can be highly effective in promoting good behaviour in youth, increasing achievement, and giving school personnel a greater sense of efficacy.
References:
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