As published:
I REFER to your front-page report,“Teacher power” , by Simrit Kaur (The Star, Dec 24).
I understand it is only human nature to employ heavy-handed discipline as a last resort in dealing with people who are otherwise uncontrollable. So I believe the Education Minister is right in his course of action.
However, I would like to suggest that switching from spoken language to hands-on policing might not be the only option for dealing with indiscipline.
People appreciate being given good reasons to do things. Yet, behavioural education is rarely presented in reasonable language.
Most of the time, children are simply told to “do this” or “do that” without being given good reasons. This is very ineffective in controlling children who seek reasons.
Such children have “scientific” minds, and it is terrible for society to alienate them by telling them to ignore their “scientific” gifting.
It is more effective to control such children by reasoning with them. So, I would like to propose that the Education Ministry look into equipping school discipline masters with better reasoning abilities, that is, logical thinking and clear articulation.
The inability to control often results from failures in communication.
HWA YANG JERNG,
Petaling Jaya.
Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2005/12/29/reasoning-with-children-a-better-way-to-check-indiscipline/#mzxvCp8gcoCUdD4T.99
