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From the Desk of Bill Cirone...
December 30, 1998
Big difference between discipline and punishment
There is a very big difference between discipline and punishment, and the distinction can affect children profoundly.
Discipline covers actions that are intended to teach and guide. Consequences are logically connected to whatever infraction has occurred. Punishment is action that is intended to control and seek retribution. Physical or psychological harm is normally involved.
Young people do not commit crimes. Their mistakes and mis-steps call for corrective disciplinary responses, not retribution.
A study on the moral development of children found that children who feared punishment tended to have less guilt, were less willing to accept responsibility, were less resistant to temptation and had fewer internal controls than children who were not punished. Another study shows a correlation between corporal punishment and stealing, truancy, aggression, hostility, lying, depression and low self-esteem.
This is partially because punishment interferes with the development of internal controls. It teaches children that it is someone else's responsibility to control them and decide what behavior is "bad" and what the consequences will be. Children may then conclude that it is OK to misbehave if they can avoid getting caught or if they are willing to accept the consequences.
Punishment also causes children to focus their attention and anger toward an "unfair" adult rather than on learning to be responsible for their own actions. Punishment validates fear, pain, intimidation, and violence as acceptable methods of resolving conflict. It also confuses the issue of love and violence, teaching that violence can be an expression of love. It creates a final solution with the adult acting as judge, jury, and executioner.
Discipline, on the other hand, teaches children that a misbehavior is bad because it violates the social order. This message promotes the development of internal controls. Discipline creates dialogue and communication with the adult acting as teacher. It shows that there are consequences for misdeeds, but more important, it focuses on what the behavior should have been, and why corrective actions are necessary.
In short, discipline and punishment are not the same. When dealing with children, discipline is clearly the better road to take for their sake in the short-term as well as the long-term.
© Santa Barbara County Education Office
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