In a book that I recently read, there was a discussion about how children are more willing to listen to moral arguments than subjecting them to rules. This reminded me of occasions where such a persuasion indeed worked for children in my class.
When a child is talking loudly or interrupting the class, teacher's natural reaction is to say - keep quiet, or that such a behaviour is not allowed in class. Or, one may quote the rules like - you are not allowed to talk in the library. After multiple use of the rules, they become in-effective. But really, such a behaviour is unacceptable not just because it's outside the rules. It is also unacceptable as it is unjust towards others who are doing their work.
As it happened, I had made this very case on a few occasions. I stopped myself from pointing out that unruly behaviour is out-of-line. Instead I said that it is morally unfair to others. And I got better response from the children. Typically, they looked around, and for the first time looked at the impact of their doing and they calmed down.
I think children can distinguish between boundaries defined by the rules (which they often don't care about) and the self-discipline that gets imposed from such moral arguments as being unfair to others (which they can't refute).
Teachers don't use this approach to resolve a situation in the class often enough. Neither do we do so in life outside the school. But we should if we want to build sensitive citizens and a fair society for tomorrow. A child's mind seems open for such an appeal.
When a child is talking loudly or interrupting the class, teacher's natural reaction is to say - keep quiet, or that such a behaviour is not allowed in class. Or, one may quote the rules like - you are not allowed to talk in the library. After multiple use of the rules, they become in-effective. But really, such a behaviour is unacceptable not just because it's outside the rules. It is also unacceptable as it is unjust towards others who are doing their work.
As it happened, I had made this very case on a few occasions. I stopped myself from pointing out that unruly behaviour is out-of-line. Instead I said that it is morally unfair to others. And I got better response from the children. Typically, they looked around, and for the first time looked at the impact of their doing and they calmed down.
I think children can distinguish between boundaries defined by the rules (which they often don't care about) and the self-discipline that gets imposed from such moral arguments as being unfair to others (which they can't refute).
Teachers don't use this approach to resolve a situation in the class often enough. Neither do we do so in life outside the school. But we should if we want to build sensitive citizens and a fair society for tomorrow. A child's mind seems open for such an appeal.
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