Teachers mete out punishment according to the offence committed by their students but lately, a couple of them have crossed the line and done things that are truly uncalled for. They are more of humiliation shown towards the students.
One had banned her student from having his recess for the whole week just because he had made mistakes in his schoolwork. To ban him for that particular day on which he made those mistakes would have been more adequate. Was there a need to stretch it to the whole week? The punishment exceeds the offence committed.
Another teacher had asked her class to beat a student up. The reason was because he had not been consistently handing his homework in to her. She had even told her class that she would turn a blind eye to their actions.
This is not just a matter of giving an excessive punishment but also of imbuing the wrong values to the students. As a teacher, she's responsible for their sense of righteousness towards those around them. After all, she's one of the educators of our young and her actions have certainly caused injustice to the student who was beaten up. What if by such an order, she was goading on a fellow student's desire to get even with that particular student whom he may hate?
Sometimes I do find myself losing my sense of control when disciplining my students but I stop myself immediately when I become aware of it. It takes a conscious decision to have daily reflection to achieve this.
On the other hand, some parents nowadays can be unreasonable. They regard their children as precious gems which can't be touched. They differ from those of the older generation who left their children in the teachers' hands. Even a hit on the knuckle by a wooden ruler is seen as cruel treatment nowadays.
It's no wonder that their children turn out to be spoilt and wayward, thinking that their parents'll always be speaking up for them.
There is also a failure to understand that their child isn't the only pupil the teacher has to handle at one time.
With expectations placed on the calibre of a child, punishments inflicted on him will accord to them. That's quite a logical way of disciplining, isn't it?
A retired teacher said, "..we have gone too soft as a society and may pay a heavy price if the disciplinary fabric of the school starts to fall apart." Following the style of such unreasonable parents will inevitably lead to that.
As Santokh Singh comments, "...punish...with dignity...don't humiliate..." Explain the reason behind the punishment. "Err on the side of sympathy with first-time offenders...Punishment meted out with care and concern usually bears the right fruit." Don't be afraid to seem foolish by giving the benefit of the doubt when disciplining. It'll go a long way with students.
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