Traditional vs. Progressive Ways to Discipline Students

Why do some kids keep showing up in the principal's office to serve one detention or suspension after another? In many schools students are processed through the discipline system by getting one detention, then another, then more, and then a suspension, then more suspensions and in some cases an expulsion. Relying exclusively on punishment as a consequence often results in increased negative behavior and fast tracking a student through the traditional discipline process until he or she self-destructs educationally.

Why do we continue to rely on old and ineffective ways to discipline? For the most part it's because old habits die hard. Yelling, screaming and embarrassing students along with assigning them detentions and suspensions has been the norm for years. As educators, we have worked to overcome old and ineffective teaching methods yet we have done little to question or change the way we discipline students.

Even our attempts at preventing discipline problems have changed little over the years. In most schools teachers simply read a list of classroom or school rules to their students on the first day of school and hope for the best. When rules are broken, students report after school for a detention. It is here where students sit for 30 or 40 minutes and do nothing or work half-heartedly on their homework. Often they end-up in more trouble.

At the end of a traditional detention there has been nothing learned about the original mistake and no goal is in place for the prevention of future mistakes. In most cases, the only thing that has occurred is that the wrongdoer has made the association between wasting time and/or doing homework and being punished. This is the wrong message to give a student who may already make poor use of his time or dislike learning.

Many educators still think that traditional discipline is going to change future behavior, when in fact most would confess that this is probably not the case. Few are surprised when the student gets in trouble again. If students are to learn from their errors they must be taught appropriate social behavior using the same instructional tools that teachers use in academic classes. For example, a good lesson is the result of good planning and student involvement. This includes making the lesson relevant and meaningful along with listening to and responding to the thoughts of students.

With discipline it means taking the time to find out why the student misbehaved and guiding him toward behaviors that are constructive in nature. By talking with the student about his actions one can perhaps discover what causes (triggers) problems for a student. And by helping the student set behavior improvement goals, old behaviors are likely to diminish. But for discipline to be effective, the consequence has to be logical and relevant. Isn't this the case with effective instruction? The lesson must fit the learner or it won't make any sense to the student and little if any learning will occur.

Here are a couple ideas to get you started:

ProTeacher.com is a website with helpful tips on creating classrooms that operate on the premise of positive behavior. There are some excellent ideas on creating peaceful classrooms and ways to give and get respect.

Another good resource is a site by J. Nelson which gives seventeen positive discipline guidelines. Her advice includes focusing on solutions rather than consequences, much as we do at the Advantage Press.

Discipline packets from The Advantage Press address many of the concerns raised by traditional discipline methods. Consequences are logical instead of unrelated, students reflect on their mistakes instead of ignore them, and goals guide future actions in lieu of no plans for change. Discipline Learning Packets provide students with 7-10 pages of text and questions that focus on a specific misbehavior. Behavior lessons cause students to reflect and plan for better way to behave. Packets are available at the elementary, junior high school and high school levels. Free samples of our Discipline Learning Packet Program are available at this website:

Advantage Press - Free Samples

We have now made it even easier to use our packets. If you don't want to purchase the whole program you can download individual discipline packets from our website. Over one hundred different packets for middle school and high school students are now available for immediate download for as little as $4.00 (US) each. Additional packets are being added every month.

Start teaching appropriate behavior today: