He or she must be “held accountable” a consequence must be imposed for moral reasons, even if there are no practical benefits. Interestingly, when many proponents of traditional discipline are presented with such evidence, they simply pivot to a very different defense, one that can’t be dislodged with evidence: They insist that if someone does something bad, something bad must be done to that person. To cite only one in a long line of empirical investigations, an eight-year longitudinal study published in 2005 found that punitive discipline was subsequently associated with more antisocial behavior, less prosocial behavior, and increased levels of anxiety. Indeed, punitive responses - even if they’re euphemistically called “consequences” - are often not merely ineffective but actively counterproductive.
Making children suffer for what they’ve done is often defended on practical grounds, but I’ve been unable to find any evidence to support the claim that punishment makes schools safer or leads the children who have been punished to become more ethical or responsible. Students who break the rules or otherwise displease us are subjected to suspension, expulsion, detention, enforced isolation (“time-out”), loss of opportunity to participate in enjoyable activities, and so on. The latter approach is worth our attention precisely because it comes so easily to us, complementing a punitive sensibility already well-established in our schools. Either this phrase amounts to empty rhetoric - rather like responding to repeated instances of gun violence in our country by sending each cluster of victims our “thoughts and prayers” - or else it refers to a policy of harsh punishment for bullies. The least thoughtful (or useful) strategy is to announce a “zero tolerance” stance in regard to bullying.
We can never go back to the days when bullying was regarded as a boys-will-be-boys rite of passage, something that victims were left to deal with (and suffer from) alone.īut as with other ills, both within and beyond our schools, some responses are much less constructive than others. By now its status as a serious problem is widely acknowledged, as it should be. On Punishment for Bullying - and Punishment as Bullying By Alfie Kohnīullying at school has attracted an enormous amount of attention, spurring academic studies and popular books, regulations and training sessions for educators.
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