CLASS RULES AND DISCIPLINE

A Precursor to Teaching and Learning

One issue that may confront teachers is the belief that they must teach as soon as they take responsibility for a class of children. This may apply at the beginning of a year, the beginning of a semester, the start of a term, or whenever a teacher takes responsibility for a new class.

It seems teachers feel the need to jump in from the first bell, beginning to reach in a ‘go, go, go’ manner. Some go for it as if there is no tomorrow. Others may approach the task more slowly, but it seems the majority are doing it to make an impact from the first minutes of the first day the class is theirs.

CHILDREN NEED TRAINING

Without diminishing or in any way tarnishing the intelligence of ‘homo sapiens’, I sometimes think about the development of children in the same way I’d consider dog obedience classes.

I think of a delightful dog with a happy disposition and carefree nature.  It is a lolloping, happy, unrequited, playful yet uncontrolled, undisciplined, range-free canine. In dog-like terms, and based on the puppy stage, it is now adolescent and possibly past the age of recovery. Untrained as a puppy, its road to rectification of manners, deportment and attitude will be long and tortuous, with only minimal change to ingrained behaviour being possible. The dog is set in its ways.

Children go through a period of formulation and formation. During their formative years, they are impressionable, responsive to training and development, and receptive.

Just as young dogs need to be taught dog obedience when they are puppies, children must be developed while young. Very young. It is never too early to start with these necessary developments. But it is easy to leave the commencement of this moulding until it is altogether too late.

One of the things that annoys me is to hear people say that the nurture of young children can be left at the moment because they are so young. The message is that there is plenty of time to develop them as they age. What sad, ignorant and arrogant nonsense. The Catholic Church used to say that the age of impression was up to and including seven years. If children were trained in the art of catholic devotion before the age of seven, they remained with the church in a steadfast and generally unwavering way for the whole of life. They might drift off occasionally but inevitably come back to their belief platform.

To be continued