About 7 months ago I got back from living in Taiwan. I lived there for a year as an English teacher. I loved my time in Taiwan. I learned a lot as a teacher and a person. I noticed that there are a lot of differences between the school systems in America and those of Asia.
One thing I noticed is the discipline system. Here in America, not a whole lot happens to a child who gets into trouble. They either get written up because they did something bad, they have to sit in detention for about an hour or if they do something extremely bad, they might have to stay home for awhile. I remember that detention in my school was having to sit in a classroom for half an hour during lunch time. How terrible is that? I remember being late for class once and so I got detention. I had to sit for half an hour and then got to go eat lunch still. I think that is a ridiculous punishment. I really don't think punishment like that is going to change many people's behaviors. I know that I didn't care much for having to sit in detention. I don't feel like we should resort to something like corporal punishment, but our discipline system is not changing students' behaviors.
Some teachers still practice corporal punishment on the students in Taiwan. My boss had a stick that she would use to hit the students' hands if they were in trouble. I hated seeing my students get hit or seeing the welts on their hands afterwards. It made me hurt for them, even if they were doing something they shouldn't. I hated the use of 'the stick.' I don't think that hitting students is a good way of punishment for students. I feel like it makes the students afraid to do or say anything.
I did like however that students knew their boundaries and they didn't dare cross those boundaries. Most of the time, the students were very well behaved and they showed respect for their elders. I think that students in America need to have that same attitude. They should know their boundaries and know the consequences if they try to do something they shouldn't. Have respect for their elders is also an important aspect for them to have.
What are some good ways that the schools of America can adapt to better discipline their students?
3 comments:
Wow, I like your blog because it is something that I knew had to be addressed but I haven't really thought about discipline in my teaching. I didn't know they still hit children in Aisa, maybe that's why most of them are so well behaved. I would hate to see my students get hit. But yeah what do you do to discipline children. I know one girl told me in her class they recieve fake money and they can buy items with it but when they are bad they have to pay the teacher some of their money, I thought that was kind of interesting because I shows them true loss instead of taking away their time. Good job I liked your blog!
I think you're right about American students. They need to recognize their boundaries. Behavior needs to be regulated in American schools. Some students are really disrespectful and there's nothing a teacher can do to truly discipline them. Hitting them doesn't really solve the problem if they're older students. But I think if you start teaching them to be respectful through some kind of physical discipline from the time when they are young and just beginning school. I say this because you're right...sitting in an empty classroom during lunch time is hardly punishment and won't change a student's behavior because they know that that's the worst it could get. Do you have any other ways to discipline students besides the "sitting in the classroom" way and the physical abuse. You can't just minus points to lower their grades either b/c there are those students who don't give a rat's about school and their education. This is a big issue...how do we solve this? The American education system can bring back hitting b/c today, parents can't even hit their kids b/c the kid can call authorities and accuse them of child abuse...so if it can't even happen in the home, how can it happen in schools? i think we need to come up w/ some kind of system that starts from the first years of education...a system that teaches common courtesy and respect. good topic for discussion!!!!
"Tough love?"....that's what it was called in my house. I totally agree with you when you stated that American students need to change their attitudes and start respecting their authority. I would hate to think that in order to receive respect from our students physical dicipline is in order. I believe that if the teacher is able to show they respect their students they would show the same back right? Ok, so in a perfect world this would happen. I don't know, this is a very good issue to ponder on. Awesome blog.
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