IS IT IMPORTANT TO GIVE A PUNISHMENT TO UNDISCIPLINED STUDENTS?

Written by: Eva Helviana Hafsah, S.Pd.

(an English Teacher of SMKN 1 Cikalongkulon)

I had a strict teacher when I was a senior high school student. I remembered that there was a teacher who taught a very strict disciplined. He was a Chemistry teacher. Chemistry is one of the difficult subjects in Science class, but he made it fun. He taught the students well. He came to school on time. When he came late, he always told the students what the problem and apologized to them. He was so funny and always made a joke. If he gave a test, he would tell the student who got the best score to all students in the third-grade class. It gave us a motivation to get the best score. He also put the results of the test on wall magazine so that all students could see it. If I got bad score it would make me embarrassed. Therefore, I studied hard to get the best score. I always got the best score in Chemistry. However, if the students did not follow his rules, he would be very angry. He always gave a punishment to those who were not disciplined. The punishments such as cleaned the rest room, ran in the yard, stood in the front of the class. Sometimes, he slapped the student it was so frighten but he never did that to the female students. Although he was very strict, the students respected to him.

My favorite teacher was an example of a strict old-style teacher. He gave a negative punishment. Is it important to give a punishment? The punishment is given in order to change the behaviour. However, there are two kinds of punishments, negative and positive punishment. Negative punishment means that you are taking away something desirable in response to negative behavior. However, Positive punishment means that there is a negative consequence for negative behaviour. It is given to make the students are disciplined without being extreme. Here are the techniques of giving positive punishment to the students:

1.         Marker System: The marker system is a good way to incorporate positive punishment with positive reinforcement. The students get their name written on the board with a mark for bad behavior. Each time the negative behavior is displayed, you place another marker on the chart. If good behavior is displayed, you take away a marker. If the day ends with no marks on the chart, the students get a reward.

2.         Writing Sentences or Essays: Schools have used this as a form of positive punishment for decades, and it's an effective form of discipline.

3.         Extra Study Time: Extra study time is another effective form of positive punishment, especially when it's a response to not doing homework or acting out in class.

4.         Time out: if the behaviour is disruptive preventing other students from learning, put them in time out.

5.         Talk to parents: if the punishments have been given but the students still have bad behaviour, go to the students’ house and talk it with their parents. Parents and teacher can work together to solve the problem.