The Punishment Mentality - Roshonda Elder
In keeping with our discussion about about ways in which to shape and change behavior, I began to think about why punishment prevails. Despite research that speaks to the contrary, punishment is widely used by schools and teachers especially in high-poverty, urban districts. As a student, majority of all my experiences involved some type of punishment to stop negative behaviors. From having your name put on the board to out of school suspensions, myself and other students were conditioned by the punishments we received.
The idea of punishments is not new and has been used to condition children for many years. I think back to the Bible verse that says, "spare the rod, spoil the child" which indicates that discipline is necessary for correction. Many cultures have this idea ingrained causing the punishment mentality to grow. Many parents punish their children because they, too, were punished creating a prevailing generational mindset.
Punishment has the effect of, usually, stopping a behavior at its onset. When we see that the behavior has stopped we attribute it to the punishment. We neglect to think about the ways in which the punishment may have stunted the student's motivation, or even started the student down a path leading to incarceration. Educators may find themselves sending students out of the class to stop disruptions each time the disruptive behavior occurs. Continuing this practice each time can become a form of negative reinforcement for the teachers. The removal of the student, or students, reinforces the use of punishment as an effective means to stop the unwanted behavior. This is another example of how punishment prevails in our school systems, we believe it works.
As building leaders we must be aware of what tactics we use to guide children to perform desirable behavior and to stop undesirable behavior. I, along with many others, believe there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Before making a decision to punish, one must consider why the use of punishment is appropriate. Are we punishing because it's all we know? Are punishments a form of negative reinforcement for us? Is there another approach that is more effective? It is my belief that as we get to the answers to those questions we may begin to shift our thinking and the mentality that has endured.
The idea of punishments is not new and has been used to condition children for many years. I think back to the Bible verse that says, "spare the rod, spoil the child" which indicates that discipline is necessary for correction. Many cultures have this idea ingrained causing the punishment mentality to grow. Many parents punish their children because they, too, were punished creating a prevailing generational mindset.
Punishment has the effect of, usually, stopping a behavior at its onset. When we see that the behavior has stopped we attribute it to the punishment. We neglect to think about the ways in which the punishment may have stunted the student's motivation, or even started the student down a path leading to incarceration. Educators may find themselves sending students out of the class to stop disruptions each time the disruptive behavior occurs. Continuing this practice each time can become a form of negative reinforcement for the teachers. The removal of the student, or students, reinforces the use of punishment as an effective means to stop the unwanted behavior. This is another example of how punishment prevails in our school systems, we believe it works.
As building leaders we must be aware of what tactics we use to guide children to perform desirable behavior and to stop undesirable behavior. I, along with many others, believe there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Before making a decision to punish, one must consider why the use of punishment is appropriate. Are we punishing because it's all we know? Are punishments a form of negative reinforcement for us? Is there another approach that is more effective? It is my belief that as we get to the answers to those questions we may begin to shift our thinking and the mentality that has endured.
I think this is so critical. A judge once said to me it was his responsibility to keep criminals out of his community for as long as he possibly could. He believed, without hesitation, that despite the fact that the "criminal" would return to his small community upon release from prison, and regardless of how his crimes compared to anyone else who committed those crimes, it was the judge's role to keep him out as long as possible.
ReplyDeleteThis moment really illustrated to me a few things about decision-making when it comes to punishment - it's easy to view punishment as simple. It is human, and often popular, to stop wrongdoing by punishing. But the message it sends to the wrongdoer is: If you do something wrong, you get punished. If you do something wrong, you are a permanent resident of the naughty list and you no longer belong here.
The problem is that this is short-sighted, as you say here, Roshonda. Students need to learn how to do better, and punishment in this way does nothing like that for students. Educators need to view their role as also helping students to learn how to do better.
WOW!! Valerie, I totally agree with you! The judge's perspective is shocking....almost like there is no recovery, healing or forgiveness! My first year as a teacher, a veteran teacher told me that we should always remind ourselves that we are teaching children how to be people. If we keep this thought in mind, our children will soak in all of the beauty and love that life has to offer. I am not quite a believer in punishment. I think that often times, a conversation can be had or a behavior can be modeled to demonstrate the desired outcome. The first thought should not be to teach by pain or hurt.
ReplyDeleteTiffani, I could not agree with you more. Often times as teachers and administrators we forget that we are there to teach the desired behavior. Remember back to the first PLC when I asked the young man, about how constant suspension made him feel. He said that it made him feel that the teachers did "like him or want him there". We have to be aware of the unintended consequences and subliminal messages we send to students.
DeleteThis is great perspective that I haven't considered before now. Roshonda, your post makes me think of a couple things (bear with me):
ReplyDelete1. Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child: I remember learning this early on and thought it meant punishment. I even used this saying as a father myself. However, I will never forget when my understanding of this changed for the better. The "rod" was used by a shepherd to apply pressure to his sheep (if ever they veered) to direct them; not to strike. Thus, my perspective of the rod and how it is used has changed completely. It's about redirection. This now requires the wielder of the rod to be calculated and patient. It also requires great endurance. How many times will you need to "redirect" a behavior? One More... (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6yuJ4R2LwA)
2. I love the connection you made between punishment and negative reinforcement. I wonder if we consider alternatives to punishment but because of the time, effort, and energy necessary, we are not willing to apply any alternatives. Punishment is just "easier." Maybe we can learn from Mark Twain, to take the road less travelled.
Tai, I liked how you brought new meaning to "rod" in the phrase spare the rod, spoil the child. I like the description of having the rod being something used to provide guidance.
ReplyDeleteI know that punishment is used a lot in schools and I'm concerned about how it plays out sometimes. I think one of the most effective ways to use punishment is like you said, Roshonda, as the annoying or negative consequence that can be removed so then there is negative reinforcement for a behavior. Sometimes adults instead immediately use punishment when a behavior happens and the application of punishment doesn't lead to the desired change.
Managing behavior is challenging, it's work that constantly has to be done and it doesn't always work the way the teacher or school plans. Things change for the better when the mindset changes to empathy. When teachers and staff think of "our" class or "our" school and adults are committed to teaching and growing students as young children who are people who need care and support.
I just finished reading Ohio HB410 (well most of it) and then the Ohio Department of Education’s explanatory and FAQ document:
ReplyDeletehttp://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Special-Education/Federal-and-State-Requirements/Operational-Standards-and-Guidance/HB-410-communication.pdf.aspxhio
I know many of us with backgrounds in teaching, administration and juvenile justice will have considered opinions on the issue and perhaps prospective remedies. I must admit, I’m a bit flummoxed. But it does seem obvious to even the uninitiated that when the problem is ‘keeping kids in school’ that the remedy should not be ‘out of school suspensions’ and certainly not expulsions.
The Ohio DoE doesn’t appear to have a specific recommendation but is reaching out to engage interested districts in a pilot program this year:
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Seeking districts to participate in truancy pilot program
5/15/2017
As part of House Bill 410, the Ohio Family and Children First Cabinet Council is seeking letters of interest from districts to take part in a pilot program addressing truancy. Each school district will develop a multidisciplinary truancy team for the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 school years that addresses attendance barriers for each child referred to the team. Please submit letters of interest to the Family and Children First Cabinet Council no later than 5 p.m. on Friday, June 2.
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The research appears unequivocal, chronic absenteeism is highly correlated with poor school performance and especially in the 9th grade, is highly correlated with eventual graduation. I am struggling with how to apply our class discussion on ‘positive reinforcement if possible, negative reinforcement if you can’t, but punishment never drives the desired behavior modification,’ to this problem. I know this chronic absenteeism is a significant issue in my internship school.
Any thoughts? I’ll work on this some more myself and make another attempt.
Jeff Dunn
Lots of good stuff here.
DeleteValerie's lock-em-up jurist is at least partially the product of our electoral process of Judges. "Soft on crime" is a deadly moniker to have attached to your re-election campaign. If you hammer everyone, then when someone you sentenced commits some heinous crime, the Judge can say "I did all I could do. The legislature tied my hands of I'd have given him even longer". The public buys it, at least sometimes.
Teachers who want a kid excluded from school may be similar to the voting public in the Judge scenario. When the kid the Principal didn't hammer does something bad again, it's because the Principal was "soft". The best answer I have is to frame the discussion in terms of helping shape behavior, without the punitive focus of who can come down the hardest, the fastest.
I'm no Biblical expert, but the "rod" definition reminds me that Biblical translation is critical part of theology. I wonder what the original term for "rod" is in the native text?
Jeff, the truancy bill will hopefully get each school building to take care of their own, when it comes to attendance issues. Truancy intervention is an exercise in problem solving. Many solutions surface, if someone just asks the right questions and listens to the answers from the family. Transportation, homelessness, lack of clothing, lack of an alarm clock, siblings providing care for siblings, parents, or grandparents, embarrassment about illiteracy, these all could present potential solutions. Sounds like common sense, but many districts and schools just sit back, count the days of absence, prepare the filing, and ship it to court; no conversation with the family, no intervention, just push the paper to the other end of the pipeline.
Hey Jeff - thanks for posting these resources, I had been meaning to review them and your post gave me the opportunity to do so. Overall, I am really encouraged by the new policy, but I will say that the issue of absenteeism is a very complicated one. At the last school I was at, I lead the middle school attendance team, and we struggled a lot with how to truly impact student attendance. Fortunately, we were never a school that would suspend students for being truant (that's just bonkers), but we still ran into a lot of issues.
DeleteHere are some overall thoughts pertaining to student attendance that will hopefully give additional perspective- unfortunately, I have few "silver bullet" solutions:
1. The responsibility to get students to school is a shared one between schools and parents, but it can be hard for many schools to see it that way. Most will say it's the one thing families need to do, but families can have difficulties if the school's transportation is inconsistent, if the student is continually suspended, etc.
2. Student attendance is often a low priority for many administrators, and especially when it's a matter of "difficult" students being absent, the student's absence can be seen as a welcomed relief. That's a major issue - if you ever feel like you, your team, teachers, etc. are relieved when a student is absent, then there's something wrong with how that student is being engaged, set up to succeed, etc. Unfortunately, though this happens a lot. Beyond that, administrators have so much going on during the day with the students who are present, worrying about those who are gone can be challenging.
3. Keeping updated information about parent contact info can be challenging, and even getting real-time updates about student absence totals can sometimes be hard. With this issue it is so important to be proactive and stay ahead of the issue, but many schools may not look at student attendance until after Thanksgiving.
4. The new policy does put more onus on the schools to try and engage families and set up a plan to intervene, rather than just watching the student absences tally up and then file truancy. This is a big change for many schools, because attendance hasn't always been a focal priority- I'm interested to see how it rolls out.
A few potential solutions:
DeleteI heard one school leader summarize her attendance plan as this: "We're going to make our school so fun that students don't want to miss school." At the most basic level, I think this the core issue. While there are definitely instances where non-academic issues come up for students, and may keep them out of school (and many times, due to these reasons, the absences are justified in my opinion), the majority of absences will come from a student being apathetic or disinterested to school. Why go if I'm just going to get yelled at, told not to talk with my friends, and sit in a chair for hours learning about stuff that doesn't matter to me. With that being said, the most effective solution to student attendance problems is dynamic, engaging, and meaningful classroom instruction. Think about everything we learned from Dr. Anderman.
Additionally, there are many ways to try and incentivize attendance or recognize attendance in school (I need to think through these ideas now that we've taken Anderman's class, as I'm not sure how they may reinforce the students who already come to school, and disincentivize those who don't).
- Pizza parties with school principal for students with perfect attendance for the month (or biggest growth in attendance rate for the month?)
- Select days where all students present at school get a special treat for being there (Mondays, days before long breaks, etc)
- Other events, trips, school incentives, that attendance helps earn (or growth in attendance)
- Signage or posting of student names who make perfect attendance, or attendance growth, or meet an attendance threshold (90% of the month, etc.)
- At my old school I created a "Club Dub Zero" which stood for students who earned "0" absences and "0" tardies in a given month - each month the students who were in the club got to do some fun activity. If I had to do it again, I would try and make different tiers within the club so that more students would be involved and got the message of going after the double 0s, rather than them being excluded if they missed the high mark.
Check out www.attendanceworks.org for more resources
Hope all of this helps! Interested to hear from others about this!