Everyone’s a Winner Here
By Adam Cirnigliaro
EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 30, 2009
I enjoyed yesterday’s discussion because the debate over types of reinforcement and punishment is an issue that has aggravated me for a while. Even before I became involved with education, the idea that everyone is a winner and the predominantly sole use of positive reinforcement has irritated me since I was in middle school. I completely agree that reinforcement in elementary school should be almost all positive because the children are not emotionally prepared to handle feeling rejection or failure.
However, by the time children reach middle school, I believe it is time for them to start learning that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. The elimination of “losers” gives children a false sense of the real world. There is a lot to learn from losing and failure and if they never experience it when they are younger, children will not be equipped to deal with it when they are older. It is a disservice to our youth, as well as patronizing. I think if some children excel in certain areas, their work should be acknowledged and not downplayed to the point where everyone is considered to have done an equally great job.
My other issue with the sole use of positive reinforcement is that in the real world, there are always consequences for making wrong decisions. Students are not learning this lesson anymore when punishment is eliminated. They can act inappropriately or not do their work and not realize that there are consequences for their decisions. Working in schools, I have noticed that many children generally do not fear much anymore. Why shouldn’t they do what they want if their only punishment is being told that they are making the wrong decisions? It probably doesn’t seem like a wrong decision to them if nothing bad happens to them.
For example, a student in my school did not want to stretch with the rest of the class before dance club. A teacher told her that if she did not stretch she would not be allowed to dance. She became very angry, cursed at the teacher and threatened to hurt her. When administrators were brought down and the girl was talked to and she apologized, the result was that she was allowed to go dance and didn’t have to stretch. What life lesson did she learn here? Not only did she get what she want, but she was shown that by physically threatening a teacher and getting angry, she is able to get what she wants. Not only do I believe that this student should not have been able to dance, but there should have been some serious punishment implemented as well. Publish with real name.
Long Island University, C. W. Post
May 30, 2009
I enjoyed yesterday’s discussion because the debate over types of reinforcement and punishment is an issue that has aggravated me for a while. Even before I became involved with education, the idea that everyone is a winner and the predominantly sole use of positive reinforcement has irritated me since I was in middle school. I completely agree that reinforcement in elementary school should be almost all positive because the children are not emotionally prepared to handle feeling rejection or failure.
However, by the time children reach middle school, I believe it is time for them to start learning that everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. The elimination of “losers” gives children a false sense of the real world. There is a lot to learn from losing and failure and if they never experience it when they are younger, children will not be equipped to deal with it when they are older. It is a disservice to our youth, as well as patronizing. I think if some children excel in certain areas, their work should be acknowledged and not downplayed to the point where everyone is considered to have done an equally great job.
My other issue with the sole use of positive reinforcement is that in the real world, there are always consequences for making wrong decisions. Students are not learning this lesson anymore when punishment is eliminated. They can act inappropriately or not do their work and not realize that there are consequences for their decisions. Working in schools, I have noticed that many children generally do not fear much anymore. Why shouldn’t they do what they want if their only punishment is being told that they are making the wrong decisions? It probably doesn’t seem like a wrong decision to them if nothing bad happens to them.
For example, a student in my school did not want to stretch with the rest of the class before dance club. A teacher told her that if she did not stretch she would not be allowed to dance. She became very angry, cursed at the teacher and threatened to hurt her. When administrators were brought down and the girl was talked to and she apologized, the result was that she was allowed to go dance and didn’t have to stretch. What life lesson did she learn here? Not only did she get what she want, but she was shown that by physically threatening a teacher and getting angry, she is able to get what she wants. Not only do I believe that this student should not have been able to dance, but there should have been some serious punishment implemented as well. Publish with real name.
2 comments:
We must walk through the challenging opportunities to teach life lessons. I am teaching 6 and 7 year olds in South Korea. One student who is advanced in English and his male ego became to chant "NO" to prepared class work yesterday. Others began to join in. I removed the "No's" to write, I must be kind and respectful in class. After realizing their behavior was inappropriate and would not be tolerated, they agreed to quietly participate
We must walk through the challenging opportunities to teach life lessons. I am teaching 6 and 7 year olds in South Korea. One student who is advanced in English and his male ego became to chant "NO" to prepared class work yesterday. Others began to join in. I removed the "No's" to write, I must be kind and respectful in class. After realizing their behavior was inappropriate and would not be tolerated, they agreed to quietly participate
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