Round Two: On Punishment & Child Development
Once again, Alfie Kohn joins Deborah Meier on the blog.
Dear Debbie,
I'm not sure how far apart we are on this question, but I'm happy to go another round with you and share some thoughts that your latest post sparked.
I share your rage at—and an impulse to punish—the bankers who created so much misery. But even if such punishment really did have a constructive effect (other than our own temporary feeling of grim satisfaction), I hope we also share the realization that we're left none the wiser about how to respond to children who do something wrong, which presumably involves something closer to disrupting than to bankrupting.
When I was in the classroom, some of my students managed to enrage me from time to time, but I knew my job wasn't to get even or make myself feel better at their expense. (The adults who worry me most are those who use their power over kids to work out their own psychological issues and then pretend that what they've done is in the kids' interest: "They need to learn that they can't ...")
Sometimes—often—we'll need to intervene, as you say, to make sure that one child isn't making another
Dear Debbie,
I'm not sure how far apart we are on this question, but I'm happy to go another round with you and share some thoughts that your latest post sparked.
I share your rage at—and an impulse to punish—the bankers who created so much misery. But even if such punishment really did have a constructive effect (other than our own temporary feeling of grim satisfaction), I hope we also share the realization that we're left none the wiser about how to respond to children who do something wrong, which presumably involves something closer to disrupting than to bankrupting.
When I was in the classroom, some of my students managed to enrage me from time to time, but I knew my job wasn't to get even or make myself feel better at their expense. (The adults who worry me most are those who use their power over kids to work out their own psychological issues and then pretend that what they've done is in the kids' interest: "They need to learn that they can't ...")
Sometimes—often—we'll need to intervene, as you say, to make sure that one child isn't making another
