Discipline a collective effort

FOR the major part of my teaching career, I was directly involved in maintaining discipline in almost all the schools that I served.

It is a fact that times have changed and we are now dealing with students who are growing up in a world of smartphones, shopping malls, Internet games and gambling, increased awareness of human rights and avoidance of cruelty, and a much more permissive society in terms of moral values.

Despite these new parameters, the quest and need to maintain discipline in schools have not changed. What needs to be changed is to factor these new dimensions in our approach and to accommodate where appropriate, without compromising on the bottom line.

All schools have a standard set of rules on discipline but I am not too sure whether this set of rules is given to parents when their children report to the school on the first day. This first day is normally orientation day, just a couple of days before the actual school term starts. Have both the parents and students seated during orientation and should parents need any clarification on any of the rules, the school authorities should clarify these concerns straight away. This inclusive initiative would reduce or eliminate excuses of ignorance from parents.

These days, parents have the tendency to be overprotective of their children. We hear of cases where parents resort to the offensive and some even threaten to sue the school. Such behaviour relays a wrong message to the youngster and will embolden him to continue to misbehave rather than correcting his behaviour.

On the other hand, teachers need to be mindful that they are now in an era where most parents are educated and knowledgeable, and due respect to the student should be accorded.

Parents and the community should work closely with the school. It is wrong for parents to think and feel that once the child is in school, the school should bear the full responsibility of moulding the child. While it is true that schools are tasked with teaching the child, including good moral values and righteousness, these efforts must be reinforced at home with parents doing their rightful bit.

Schools should adopt a more inclusive approach, getting parents and the community involved in the many activities which are aimed at instilling good discipline.

I still recall a very effective way of curbing truancy. With the blessings of the principal, I had a short message drafted out, addressed to parents and the surrounding community. I had this mail-dropped and in the short message, I appealed to all to report any case of students seen loitering around their neighbourhood, using the school phone number provided. My note stated that all cases reported would be acted upon immediately and we walked the talk. The end result? Every parent around Subang Jaya started to apply to join the school.

Rules are static while ideas come from hard thinking, and new ideas need to be hatched to curb indiscipline. We just need to think hard on how problems can be tackled effectively. The rules are there to guide us but not all disciplinary cases can be resolved by simply applying the rules.

To be fair, very few students are really problematic. Most of those students who do cause problems belong to the mischievous type and need no harsh punishment. They need attention, counselling and a more caring concern. They just need someone to reason out with them on the need to toe the line.

There are a couple of things which I learned through my years as a discipline teacher. We need to be fair and reasonable, and students can see this in us. By and large, when students know that we are fair and reasonable, they are more cooperative when hauled up for disciplinary action.

Teachers should be perceived as a “senior partner” to the student and be accessible at all times. They must exhibit a reasonable amount of flexibility when dealing with young students and should avoid being seen as lording over the youngsters. Teachers can make it very clear right from the outset that mutual respect is the key to a conducive learning environment and there is a line that must not be traversed.

On the part of parents, they need to cooperate with the school authorities in containing indiscipline for the benefit and wellbeing of their children. The school can counsel and instil discipline and this must not be negated by insensitive parents. Working hand in hand with the school will produce wonders. For both the school as well as parents, adopting a confrontational attitude does not help to resolve problems. In fact, it will lead to an escalation of an initially minor problem.