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Discipline in Student Behavior Builds Academic Rigor and a Positive School Culture
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Discipline in Student Behavior Builds Academic Rigor and a Positive School Culture
Discipline in student behavior in a homeschool or a regular school is not easy to address no matter how experienced the leaders in the school are. I found it particularly daunting my first few years as a teacher and even now, it is an action upon which I still give much thought and prayer. Over the course of a few newsletters, I want to make the case that a school’s approach to the discipline of student behavior directly corresponds to academic rigor and school culture in a developing Classical Christian school. Let me introduce my argument.
Noah Webster, who wrote the first American dictionary for the purpose of creating a unique American language that reflected the philosophy of the American founding, defined “discipline” as “education; instruction; cultivation and improvement, comprehending instruction in arts, sciences, correct sentiments, morals and manners, habits, and due subordination to authority.” “Discipline” means educating students with the knowledge of arts and sciences, developing higher orders of thinking about the subjects, teaching students to develop passion or feeling regarding the subjects they are taught, and training students in behavior in terms of developing morals, manners, habits, and respect for due subordination to authority. Webster’s definition of discipline is an excellent outline for Classical Christian schools to utilize in school formation, because it includes the education of the whole person.
Why then, is discipline in student behavior such a hot button issue in schools today? Misunderstandings and miscommunications occur in Classical and Christian schools because a clear plan for student discipline in the area of behavior has not been laid out. A wide range of acceptable behavior exists among Christian and Classical school parents today. Some parents lacked a good upbringing or some do not have a Biblical view of parenting. Some adults seek to become friends with their children or compete with other adults to see who can appear to be the most committed to their children, so that their view of child discipline is quite different than the Biblical model. With the normalization of the idea of a mother being a “Mama bear,” which means that any criticism of a child is seen as a verbal assault and warrants a reprisal, classrooms and schools without clear plans of discipline in student behavior can end up spending a considerable amount of time putting out fires that did not need to get started to begin with. All Classical schools talk about developing virtue, they often put a list of virtues on the walls of the school, and they develop a system of consequences for the times that students do not govern themselves, but they do not often outline specifically the morals, manners, habits, and what due subordination to authority looks like in writing.
As human beings, we assume that if we call ourselves by the same name, Christian, then we all have a similar understanding of Christian behavior and child training, but we do not. Outlining clear objectives for discipline of student behavior at school, setting clear boundaries and specific expectations of behavior in terms of morals, manners, habits, and respect for authority will enable a school to focus on the discipline of the whole child and not spend as much time dealing with misunderstandings that cause teacher and administrator to deviate from the main objective of the school, educating the mind, soul, and spirit of the children. Philosophy has to be complemented with methodology for effectiveness.
Having worked in schools for twenty years, I have noticed that when discipline in student behavior is poorly executed in a school, the academic standards are compromised as well. The school culture is negatively affected when student behavior and academic rigor get negotiated down to the level that the loudest complainers will tolerate. The Bible tells us that Satan roams the earth like a roaring lion looking for people to devour. Are not our Classical Christian schools considered prey to him? If so, then we must be purposeful and comprehensive in studying and implementing the Biblical principles that God has given to us for training children.
Discipline in student behavior in a school requires three things for success: clear definitions of boundaries, expectations, and procedures for students, a clear plan for enforcement, and adults willing to lead children. When any teacher or administrator thinks about discipline in student behavior, he or she usually sighs out loud and says “Yeah, I know,” as though it is an arduous, time consuming task, and that is because it can be . . . but if a comprehensive plan is implemented well, the burden of discipline rests with the plan, not the negotiations that often occur when there is no specific plan.
Even with a comprehensive and specific plan, there are aspects to discipline in student behavior that are not ever easy, but they get easier with practice. The human beings we want to enjoy do not like being told, “No,” or held accountable for their lack of self-government, and it is not pleasant being glared at by disobedient students or hearing them complain to others. But when we take the long road approach, we soon discover that discipline in student behavior executed effectively leads to a delightful and enjoyable school year every year. Living in a culture where pleasing children and preventing them from feeling uncomfortable or struggling with things is emphasized, training young people in Biblical morals, manners, correct sentiments, habits, and due subordination to authority is counter-cultural. Therefore, it is all the more important that all of the adults working in Classical Christian schools spend time, prayer, and energy getting this right.
An encouraging aspect of teaching in Classical and Christian school is that most of the students are already predisposed to adults training them in soul and spirit so the time aspect does not have to be all that arduous and consuming once the students understand and follow the program. In Classical and Christian schools with a student discipline program implemented across the grades consistently, it usually only takes a few months for the most disobedient of students to get in line and respect the school’s boundaries and meet the expectations set forth. For example, I have implemented my own plan for discipline in student behavior in my classroom over the years, and after writing this article, I see ways I can improve my plan:) I have peaceful and smooth running classes in about 4-6 weeks each year. I train for two weeks with no consequences, then I implement consequences quickly and efficiently. (Students should not be told how many times they can disobey before they get a consequence for their misbehavior.) The most stubborn students take longer to adopt the plan, but a beautiful thing occurs once they become obedient – they become enthusiastic learners! Their lack of self-government prevented them from learning in the past, but once their behavior is in check, they come to realize that they enjoy learning.
Another reason that Classical Christian schools should form a comprehensive plan of student discipline that focuses on academic and behavioral training, is that it benefits the students as well as the adults. Parents and teachers are both held responsible for their training of young people by God. Creating boundaries and expectations for student behavior in school will not only help the students develop in morals and manners, habits, and in due respect for authority, but it will also keep the adults – the parents, teachers, and administrators – accountable for their task at hand. Boundaries create safety for children, but they can also be used to develop leaders who will guide children to follow the principles by which our Heavenly Father has called us to live. When adults lead, children follow. Where do we, as parents, teachers, and administrators, intend to lead our children/students in their moral and spiritual development? In a Classical Christian school we want to lead them towards a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, lives of sanctification, and lives of service to God and their fellow man. How can we do this without a plan? If we do not have a plan, then what ideology are we following and what are we teaching our children? “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” Romans 6:16 and “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
Funny Stories
I taught at a Christian school for a little while that had a nationally ranked high school basketball team. Kevin Durant graduated from the school a couple of years after I left. I was teaching some really tall, pretty strong young men who looked like they were in their mid-twenties, but they were actually sixteen year olds who acted like it. Because of their size and athletic ability, some would push back against the teachers because they thought they did not have to listen to anyone but the coach. I had developed a quid pro quo arrangement with the team’s assistant coach who had the job of making sure the students passed their classes. In return for me tutoring students who needed extra help, he would take care of any behavioral issues that I could not solve on my own in the classroom, usually by making the errant young men run extra laps after a long practice. Whatever coach did, it was effective.
At one point in the school year, I noticed for a few days that a junior, the 6’10” 240 lb center of the basketball team, who would go on to play in the NBA, would not get his supplies out when class was beginning. He would look around and ask any girl sitting close to him for a pen and paper. I was new to teaching and was not quite sure what I was witnessing and if it were a problem. Once I watched him do this a few times, I asked him if he had his own pencil and paper in his backpack. He told me that he did not have anything. I told him to bring his own supplies to class, because it was his responsibility to provide them, not other students. The next class, he did not have his supplies again, so I told him if he showed up for the next class without his supplies, then he would have an after school detention and he would clean out the microwave. The teachers had to eat lunch in their classrooms with their students that year and the microwaves got pretty dirty.
He showed up to the next class with no pretense of having supplies, and when I watched him turn around and ask a girl for paper and pen again, I stepped in. I refused to let him have her paper, I told him to copy the class notes from someone in class when he got his own pen and paper, and I scheduled the detention for the next day after school. He grumbled and complained a little bit and I ignored him, because we had both talked about the consequence of not being responsible in bringing his own supplies to class. After school that day, he came to my room to talk to me. I had him sit down at a nearby table to talk.
He told me that he did not deserve a detention for not bringing pen and paper to class. I told him that the young ladies in his classes were not his personal secretaries nor were they Office Depot and he was not entitled to their school supplies. He was responsible for bringing his own supplies to class and each time he did not, he would be visiting me after school to do some kind of cleaning chore until he exercised enough self-government to bring his own supplies to class. He told me how “hard” it was to remember to bring them and that he “just forgot.” I let him know that forgetting every now and then was one thing, but not everyday like I had witnessed. We had block scheduling, so it had actually been two weeks that he had not brought his supplies (that I had noticed). Furthermore, I knew if he was doing this in my class, he was doing it in every other class. He was taking advantage and the young ladies were enabling his irresponsibility, neither of which was good for any of them.
He was a charming young man and he tried to butter me up and when I would not budge, he got angry and made a vociferous protest about coming for detention and cleaning out the microwave. I reminded him that I had made the expectations and the consequences very clear. He told me definitively that he would not come to detention and he would not clean the microwave. I clarified that he was refusing to come to detention the next day and clean the microwave. He claimed that he would not do it. I looked into his face and I asked him, “Do you really want to mess with me?”
We looked at each other for several seconds, then slowly, he began to smile. “I will see you here tomorrow afternoon and I will clean the microwave,” he said in a pleasant voice.
He showed up on time, he cleaned the microwave very well, he asked me to inspect it when he finished cleaning, and then he thanked me as he left. I did not not tell the assistant coach about the incident, but my student understood that every time he did not have his supplies, he would meet me after school for chores. He came a few more times after school, and he always had a good attitude, and he always thanked me when he left. Most importantly, he learned to bring his own supplies to class:)
Developing Better Thinkers Through Writing
“Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” Romans 6:16
The Apostle Paul
1. Define the key terms —
present — to set, place or introduce into the presence or before the face of a superior
obey — to comply with the commands, orders or instructions of a superior
slaves — A person who is wholly subject to the will of another
sin — the voluntary departure of a moral agent from a known rule of rectitude or duty, prescribed by God
death — Separation or alienation of the soul from God
obedience — Compliance with a command, prohibition or known law and rule of duty prescribed
righteousness — Purity of heart and rectitude of life; conformity of heart and life to the divine law.
Rewrite the quotation —
“Do you not know that to whom you place yourselves as persons wholly subject to the will of another in order to comply with his commands, you are wholly subject to that one’s will with whom you comply, whether of voluntary departure from morality leading to alienation from God, or of compliance with God’s commands leading to conformity with divine law?” Romans 6:16
3. Questions:
A. Explain the correlations between “sin” and “death” and “obedience” and “righteousness.”
B. What is significant about the word “slaves?” Why do you think the Lord used such strong language here?
C. Do you agree that we are always either departing from God’s law and alienating ourselves from God or we are complying with God’s commands and conforming to God’s law? Why or why not?
D. Be prepared so discuss in class:
How does Jesus’ sacrifice for sin upon the cross fit into this Scripture, because it is not about conforming to God’s commands in order to be declared righteous?
Through the Dark Sod — as Education
by Emily Dickinson
Through the Dark Sod—as Education
The Lily passes sure
Feels her white foot—no trepidation
Her faith—no fear
Afterward—in the Meadow
Swinging her Beryl Bell
The Mold-life—all forgotten—now
In Ecstasy—and Dell