On Discipline

  
On Discipline

Hello Vonny,

Thanks for reading my stuff, for replying and for your comments, which are of course valid.  Let me explain why I did not explicitly list and discuss discipline.

I mentioned, in my sending, that the the reasons for the twin tragedies in K-12 education include:

(1) social problems;

(2) structural problems.

(Blog readers:  Please see the post, The Two Tragedies of K-12 Education and their Causes , which is at:

 http://subject-teacher.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-two-tragedies-of-k-12-education-and.html . )

I then went on to say that I would address, in that sending, only the structural problems.

I did this because to attempt to address the social problems would have taken too long and would have diverted attention from the structural problems.  I personally think that the social problems are the hardest to deal with, and the primary reason why schools are failing.  But the structural problems also have to be addressed. It is like a car -- it won't run without tires -- but you also need gas in the tank.

Social and structural problems cannot be completely separated.  But we may do so for purposes of analysis. It is like the human (animal) body -- the organ systems are ways in which we artificially divide up the complexity.  Although one cannot really separate organ systems in practice, either anatomically or physiologically, they are useful conceptual divisions, with a lot of accumulated knowledge organized around them.  They are useful for physicians, as well as for patients and their relatives.  

The conceptual division of the complexity of the vertebrate body into organ systems is also useful for students learning biology.  Indeed, especially given that textbooks still organize much of their material around this, I would venture that it is essential.  But this is a point completely lost on the designers of the "Living Environment" curriculum that has replaced the traditional Regents Biology one in New York State, with organ systems almost completely stripped out of the syllabus -- along with much else. 

Now there's a structural problem in K-12 education, festering now for more than a decade, with no resolution, or even acknowledgement, in sight!  (This is not to say that the prior syllabus was optimal, especially given the impossibly tight time-allotments for science in this country.)  Similar situations may be found in mathematics curricula and elsewhere.

I left out discipline (although it comes under the purview of focus, as lack of discipline dissipates focus) because I could not begin to address it without bringing in the social problems.  And in this country, this issue is tied up with issues of race and class (although the issue cuts across all these boundaries) and one cannot talk sensibly about it without running into all manner of defensive reactions and arguments without end.

That said, one has also to address the social problems -- and discipline belongs more squarely in that discussion.

I had mentioned the primacy of informal education -- which included not only the first spoken language, which all of us appear mercifully to master unless we have severe problems -- but also, as I mentioned, ethical understanding.  In this area, many of our students appear to be lacking -- or operating from a different set of ethical principles than, say, I do -- based more on satisfying the immediate or apparent needs of the self, with little regard for the rights of others or for one's own responsibilities.

When ethical understanding is present, one can appeal to it -- a mere momentary pause or a gentle look suffices. When it is absent or perverted, discipline has to be enforced, ultimately by intimidation.  And this is a losing battle, with the teacher placed in a most unfortunate position.