Constructive Discipline Builds Better Classrooms. Research Paper Sample.

Education is one of the separating factors of a developed society and a stagnant society. In modern times, countries spend millions of dollars on their education system in hopes of creating a better nation. America once leads the world in education, but it currently is ranked in the middle of all first world countries. Part of this decline, is due to a shift in the teacher student relationship. For education to be successful a teacher must be able to have control of her class, and for a student to learn they must be obedient to the authority they are placed under. This relationship is most prevalent in the elementary stages of education. A child must be presented to constructive discipline for them to learn and grow adequately. Constructive discipline is the idea that through non-violent acts of discipline you can encourage and teach a child to behave better and to learn better without physically or verbally hurting them. This form of discipline is a recent development but is a vital need in the education system today. As culture shifts so does our need in tactics of educating youth. In the earliest years of civilized education physical discipline was the standard, but that is no longer accepted in our social order today. Even in the home parents have abstained from physical discipline in exchange for a more encouraging and reinforcing method. For education to prosper again, it must learn to adopt constructive discipline in the classroom in order to keep children attentive and focused while maintaining authority.

Although the education system must learn the need of constructive discipline, it cannot do this task alone. Education has not and never will be the sole responsibility of the school or the teacher. For children to grow and learn it is vital that their parents are also involved. As important as discipline of any kind is at school, it is critically more important for a child to face discipline at home. When and if a child does not respect their own parents, a teacher has little chance of getting that child to obey in the classroom. Discipline becomes more effect when the student sees his teacher and parent respect and communicates with each other. If a child sees his parents communicate with his teacher It demonstrates that a child can trust his teacher because [their parents] do. (Parent Teacher Partnership).Constructive discipline, even when implemented correctly, will always struggle if there is no backing at home. Students must know their misbehavior will not be tolerated at school with their teachers, nor their parents. In the earliest stages of American education, physical discipline was used as the means of correcting a child. From a mild reprimand or a spanking from a paddle, teachers and schools kept a tight hold on their students, but for many students this physical discipline was not over as the school day ended. Teachers would communicate with the parents, and let them know when and if their child was misbehaving. Parents would then continue the discipline at home by whatever means necessary. This bond must be reinstated for the good of the students and the country. In the modern education system, students are disrespecting teachers and administrators at alarming rates. Due to a lack of any discipline, 20% of teachers are verbally abused, 10% of teachers are physically threatened while 5% are physically attacked at school. (A Silent National Crisis) This clearly shows the need of a new form of discipline. Schools across the nation are searching for the methods to reduce misbehavior and violence in their halls. Many schools that have turned to constructive discipline have seen not only a reduction in violence, but an increase in passing. If schools cannot be changed for the better, less people will wish to become teachers. With less teachers, the situation of misbehaving children will only grow larger. Constructive discipline is an answer to not only an educational problem, but a cultural one as well.

Discipline is the action under which teachers employ in guiding and changing a students behavior positively. Discipline is vital in not only class management but also for the purpose of raising upright individuals for the well-being of the society. However, the introduction of administrative regulations gives many rights to learners hence negatively affecting the act of disciplining by teachers. The teachers tend to experience several challenges in the classroom with other issues of student assaults. In this case, the teacher finds it hard for the lessons to run without student interruptions because students have more rights compared to them. Given the discipline case in classrooms, many teachers have traced the indiscipline problems from the student's homes and backgrounds. The student who causes disruptions in class might have problems at home or even due to puberty stage. Needless to say, it is the role of not only the teacher but the student in ensuring that discipline is necessary for the purpose of running the lessons smoothly. However, when correcting students, teachers should bear in mind to try and understand the reason behind the misbehaviors and instill the right type of discipline. Given the discipline case, it is then vital to understand that discipline should be exercised in a classroom for the smooth running of the lessons and making students morally upright even in the outside world.

History of Discipline

The act of students misbehaving is not an issue that has just begin in recent years. Student's misbehaviors can be traced back from the early years of the 1950s and the era in which public education was introduced. During the ancient times, students faced punishments like; corporal, detentions, reprimanding, fines and in or out school suspensions (Savage, Marsha and Tom 267). Suspensions as a mean of correcting student's behavior initially began in 1960's and continue to be exercised even till now. With the rise in students misbehavior, researchers embarked on studying the cause of the behaviors and how the discipline measures are impacting to the students. In the research, the main issue was to understand whether public classroom education was the causal of bad behaviors among student and advocate for the removal of out of school suspensions. With the findings of the research proving that students liked this form of punishment and that they took privilege in repeating the crime to be out of school again and again. According to Costenbader and Markson 1998, surveys carried out on the views of suspensions through setting up questionnaires proved that the illest behaviors that students commit are, lack of respect, aggression and even profanity. However, besides the findings on suspensions, the punishment continues to be practiced today but teachers without putting in mind that it is the form of discipline the students like. Amidst these forms of discipline, corporal punishment raised many questions in the early year of 1910. Many people advocated for the removal of this type of punishment after students registered a high number of missing schools due to fear of being beaten in classrooms. According to Philipp Emanuel Von Fellenberg, the best way to promote good class behaviors among students is to show them kindness to encourage them and not the use of corporal punishments (Wood and Babs 61). More so, European ideas were introduced by Francis Parker who analyzed the connections between discipline and education giving findings that the best way to boost the grade performance for students was for teachers to embrace teaching through play. However, this suggestion only favored the kindergarten and the elementary education only and not the whole system.

Lack of Discipline Today

Many teachers have come up to regret choosing the profession and terming it as a great mistake due to all forms of torture they endure from learners. Disrespect among students has highly grown to the extent that they treat the teacher like their age mates. Can this be the outcomes of ruling out corporal punishment which was the best way to correct students? With such a question in mind, it is clear that unless the education system thinks of bringing back the corporal form of discipline in classes or even develop new measures, then teacher are a risk of facing more problems from the unruly learners. However, lack of discipline today in a student can draw back on parents. According to the Executive Director of Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association, Beverly Braithwaite-Chan, the indiscipline in children comes from the failure of proper parental guidance (Nelsen, Lynn and H S. Glenn 150). Parents should not leave the issue of disciplining to teachers only as it is the parent's role to understand their children than the teacher. The parents have the role of parents in the lives of the children is to instill discipline through understanding the problem of their children and embarking on making the correction. The problem comes in when parents have time for the children, leaving all the children matters to the teachers to handle. It is even worst when the teacher has no good relation with the student in class. The issue creates a communication gap between the children and parents hence, the rise in misconduct among students. In this case, the teachers incur multiple challenges of playing the role of both the parent and the teacher, which is hard as they cannot understand the children like the parent does. Additionally, the issue of students misbehaving in class can be due to the problems at homes. In the case of the student's parents are divorcing, the issue can bring so much stress on the student making him, or her misbehave in class (Sprick 89). The action can be the way the student wants to deal with the stress at home since he or she is feeling helpless, thus seeking for attention. Moreover, in a situation where the student is severely abused or is not being given attention due to the encroachment parents in their divorce matters, the student have emotional outbursts which might lead them to disrupting the lessons. Additionally, other circumstances involving the student facing bullying at home from parents or even siblings, the student highly adapt the behaviors wanting to exercise the same actions in the classroom as a way of reducing stress. Due to these facts, lack of discipline in students is fueled by a multiple of challenges they face both in school and even at home.

Long-Term Effects of Discipline in Classroom

Discipline comes in three major faces which are vital in classroom management by the teacher. When the teacher embraces the three faces of discipline, then indiscipline cases in the classroom will be minimal. The need to embrace discipline in the classroom for smooth running of lessons and bettering the life of students even in the outside world should be a primary concern for teachers. In the face of relationship listening process, it is vital that the teacher carefully evaluates the student's capabilities believing that the student can drive positive change in his behaviors, hence employ the minimum form of discipline (Curwin, Allen and Brian 167). In the case where teacher embraces this face, the student will put more concentration in class knowing that their teacher believes in them. More so, the students will develop a good relationship with the teacher making the lessons more enjoyable and even easier to understand since they have the freedom to make any inquiries in areas they have not clearly understood.

Additionally, when the teacher embraces the confronting - Contracting idea of discipline, the student is in a better position to change the ill classroom behaviors completely. In this situation, the teacher adopts the scolding from where he or she faces the student squarely and making a demand on why the student misbehaved. The teache...