Punishment and Discipline - Essay Example

Punishment &Discipline Module Module ID: Punishment & Discipline The present paper aims to explore the role of the infliction of punishment on the children for their proper and adequate brought up as well as for the maintenance of discipline in their life. The paper also looks for exploring whether punishment is necessary for the cultivation of innocent minds and development of their personalities or it leaves adverse affects on their personality by crushing their confidence level and challenging their mental capabilities and creativity as well. Theorists appear to be at daggers drawn at this very issue and present divergent theories in respect of applying force and aggression against the children to bring them to terms. The supporters of imposing limitations and penalties upon children through the use of force view punishment as vehemently necessary one to get them distinguish right from wrong as well as make them acquainted with the system of reward and punishment that has been in vogue in every human society for centuries. Consequently, punishment plays vital role in turning children organized and disciplined members of society. On the other hand, the critics of punishment theory view adopting of harsh and violent attitude towards children as destructive one, as it may, according to them, leave unpleasant upshot on their minds. As a result, punishment would make them aggressive and deviant in their grown years, and they will apply the same antagonism towards other members of society. It is right that the punishment should be the part of training of the children; however, inadequate and unnecessary use of force may weaken the fabrication of family set up on the one hand, and decreases the intensity of co-operation and love in the hearts of children for their parents, guardians and siblings on the other. Socialization serves as an extremely sensitive phenomenon, where it requires unabated attention and dedication of the parents and guardians in order to make biological man into social one through education and training. “It is actually a lifelong experience by which people develop their human potential and learn culture.” (Macionis, 2007:118) Being the first and the most fundamental social institution, family is regarded to be responsible for nurturing and upbringing of the young ones. During family’s interaction with the child, it indirectly and unconsciously educates him, which not only commences the learning process of the child, but also it leaves its indelible imprints on his innocent mind. Consequently, he does not forget the effects and impact of learning made during his very initial years, and seeks the support of the same training in later years while communicating with his social and natural environment as well as while interacting with other members of society. Since child is unaware of the prevailing social norms, cultural values, religious teachings and statutes of law, family, school and church teach him all about the norms, values, customs and conventions, following of which is compulsory for leading a respectable life in society. However, children’s delicate mental faculties do not allow them to obey all the commands and instructions being decreed from the parents and teachers. On the contrary, they act and react out of their own thoughts, and sometimes get involved into the activities that may put their life in grave jeopardy. In order to stop them from exercising the harmful activities, applying of punishment appears to be very essential sometimes, so that the children could be discouraged to repeat the same for the future days to come. For instance, the children are not aware of the dangers behind holding the wire or accessories containing electric power and fire etc, and thus touching such material carrying electricity or something like that may take their life or the life of others even. In order to keep them away from such dreadful situation and life taking material as well, adopting of harsh attitude, on the part of the parents and teachers, turns out to be inevitable for saving the life of the innocent children. Since soft words and gestures are unable to explain the severity of the mistake made by the children as well as the blunder committed by them, parents use force and even physically batter the children with the purpose of their safety and welfare. Thus, it is punishment that reminds them of the dangerous consequences of some wrong and incorrect activity, which should not be repeated at any cost. Liebert & Spiegler (1990) declare two methods as most important for encouraging the children for doing good and abstaining them from performing anything adverse; they methods include positive and negative reinforcement i.e. reward and punishment, both of which are highly productive ones in controlling human behavior at large. “With positive reinforcement, a stimulus is presented following a behavior, and with negative reinforcement, a stimulus is removed following a behavior. And punishment has the most opposite effect of negative reinforcement as it reduces the probability that the response will recur.” (Liebert & Spiegler, 1990: 416) Punishment not only imposes limitations and bar on the children, but also cultivates their minds in a proper manner in order to make them well-groomed, well-mannered and disciplined, like trimming and cutting of unnecessary leaves, grass and branches shapes the garden. Thus, mere expressing of love and affection does not accomplish the task and obligation of the socialization of the children. If parents and teachers display love and kindness towards children on beating others or breaking and spoiling different things and articles, the adolescents can never learn etiquettes and manners, and hence they will turn out to be uncultured and uncivilized citizens of society in their grown years. However, form and intensity of the punishment should never be hurting or humiliating at any cost; nor should it put the honor or feelings of the children at stake and jeopardy. On the contrary, punishment should be designed in a way that could introduce improvements in the personality and behavior of the children instead of making them rebels and perverts because of the torture and antagonism inflicted upon them in the name of reformation and training. The supporters of punishment theory cite the Scriptures in favor of applying punishment on children. They are of the opinion that Almighty God, the most Beneficent, has also introduced the concepts of reward and punishment, in the form of heaven and hell, for protecting the humanity from going astray and thus becoming prey to the obnoxious designs devised and designed by the satanic forces, to entrap the children of Adam and Eve, in their nefarious snare. The expulsion of the first parents of humanity was also the part of punishment exercised by the Lord upon them for violating His law and tasting the fruit of the forbidden tree. The transgressors were also inflicted with pains and sufferings in this world and in the Hereafter, as the people of Noah and Lot were punished by God in the form of infliction of flood and rain of stones upon them respectively. Thus, punishment and penalty destroys the worst transgressors on the one hand, and keeps the obedient people to terms on the other. Similarly, political authorities have also introduced the system of law and order within the social establishment for the maintenance of peace and discipline at state level. Had there no fear of punishment and penalty in the minds of the people, they could have been chaos and disorder everywhere in the world. The critics of exercising punishment upon children are of the opinion that since the concept of punishment is attributed to the criminals, offenders and transgressors, children should never be the victim of hurtful behavior for making little mistakes and getting involved into mischievous behavior. On the contrary, parents and teachers should present a model through their attitude and behavior in such a powerful manner that the children feel themselves morally bound and under-obligation to imitate the same without becoming prey to the torture and hatred of their elders. They also opine that the rewards, favors, kindness, compassion, dedication and moral and financial support to the adolescents certainly turn them obedient and complying, and an overwhelming majority of them stick to admirable behavior rather breaking the rules established by the parents and teachers. Additionally, punishment and coarse attitude applied by the elders not only turns children obstinate and stubborn, but also feelings of disliking and hatred start developing in their minds against the person responsible for the pains and torture afflicted upon them. It is therefore, the children should be treated with love and affection, as well as by announcing rewards and appreciation for them in order to keep them well-disciplined and complying. “A child needs to feel safe at home. There is no surer way to start children on the right path in life than to provide consistent, reliable, loving care. How you relate to the children inside your home is perhaps the most powerful tool for protecting them from violence outside the home.” (American psychological Association, 2007: 2) Since home is the safest zone in society for children, where they find themselves completely protected and secure, it should remain as sheltering tree for them forever. If family members start displaying domestic violence and torture on innocent adolescents, then they will have no trust in member of society altogether. As a result, sense of insecurity and discomforts may pave the way towards their getting indulged into crimes, chemical dependency, begging, adultery and even committing suicide in order to get rid of the isolation they are undergoing in one way or the other. And the concept of discipline and law will vanish forever from their minds. To conclude, it becomes evident that discipline is actually the beauty of life; it is order that blesses individuals and societies with power, position, pelf, prosperity and respect in the world. The nations that are more disciplined and organized one, and pay due heed to order and decorum, are sure to make headway in political, social, economic and strategic fields in the international arena. However, it is only possible provided they strictly follow the rule of punishment and penalty in their individual and collective life, and impose restrictions and inflictions on wrong-doers. The same is the case with the children. The parents and teachers should also apply some rude attitude towards children in order to make them disciplined, educated and civilized, but it does not mean that they should be battered and tortured in such a way that may destroy their personalities, and they start seeking comfort and relief in such activities that come under the definition of immorality and crime. Thus, the persons responsible for the socialization and education of children must shower love and kindness towards them along with some symbolic signs of aggression in order to save them from becoming the prey of disobedience and malpractices. References Liebert, Robert M. & Spiegler, Michael D. (1990) Personality: Strategies and Issues Sixth Edition Wadsworth Inc. Macionis, John J. (2007) Sociology Eleventh Edition Prentice Hall American Psychological Journal (2001) Violence Prevention for Families of Young Children Retrieved from http://actagainstviolence.apa.org/materials/publications/act/violenceprevention_families.pdf Read More