I don't think the average parent really understands BM, and certain that program parents have no clue how their kids are being conditioned.
Here are a few good articles on the subject. One of my favorite quotes, "Is the choice we offer a child truly a choice or a mind game in which we use words that sound as though the child rationally chose punishment?"
While this applies to all programs, for 50 points, which one springs to mind when you read that?
From The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Founded in 1943, ASCD's mission is to forge covenants in teaching and learning for the success of all learners.
http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/edupdate/1996/1sep.htmlTraditional approaches to classroom management based on rewards and Punishments are proving less effective today, experts find....Moreover, if teachers rely on punishments, students weigh the cost of misbehavior. For a particular student, it might be "worth it" to beat up Mary, despite the punishment that follows. Students in such an environment "never develop an ownership of the social responsibility involved," Riner says.
This last point is central to the beliefs of many experts: Authoritarian approaches may get students to comply, but they don't help students develop self-discipline and responsibility. When teachers rely on punishment and praise, they "leave kids at the lowest level of development," says Barbara Coloroso, author of Kids Are Worth It!: Giving Your Child the Gift of Inner Discipline. Students' behavior is guided by the question: "What's in it for me?"
Given these considerations, many teachers are seeking new approaches to classroom management that not only work better but also teach better lessons. These teachers hope to instill an intrinsic motivation to do the right thing, so students will behave in a socially responsible way because they want to--not out of fear.
Teachers can also build students' commitment to social responsibility by rejecting punishments in favor of "logical consequences" for misbehavior, experts say. The latter are closely related to the infraction and often include an element of making restitution. Unlike punishments, which are intended to make children suffer, logical consequences give children who are at fault a sense of how to improve, and help them regain their dignity and self-respect, experts maintain.
Although a consequence may feel unpleasant, it teaches the child to make better choices, says Allen Mendler, coauthor of Discipline with Dignity. A punishment, such as putting a child in "time out" for five minutes, is "just a sentence," he says. The teacher should ask the child in "time out" to come up with a plan for doing better in the future.
Some experts, like Alfie Kohn, believe consequences are merely disguised versions of punishments, and have the same negative effects on children. "To contrive some sort of conceptual link between the punishment and the crime may be satisfying to the adult, but in most cases it probably makes very little difference to the child," Kohn writes in Beyond Discipline. "The child's (understandable) anger and desire to retaliate come from the fact that someone is deliberately making her suffer."
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National Child Protection Clearinghouse
Marianne James-Senior Research Officer
http://www.aifs.org.au/nch/issues1.htmlThree types of abuse which can be included in societal systems have been identified: institutional abuse; program abuse; and system abuse. Institutional abuse has been defined to include abuse as a result of: 'any system, program, policy, procedure or individual interaction with a child in placement that abuses, neglects, or is detrimental to the child's health, safety, or emotional and physical well-being, or in any way exploits or violates the child's basic rights' (Gil 1982, p.9). Program abuse has been defined as occurring when 'programs operate below accepted service standards or rely upon harsh and unfair techniques to modify behaviour' (Gil 1982, p.9). System abuse has been defined as abuse that is 'perpetuated not by a single person or agency, but by the entire child care system stretched beyond its limits' (Powers, Mooney and Nunno 1990).
Emotional Abuse is a behavioural pattern whereby a parent or caregiver attacks a child's self-esteem and social competence over a period of time. Some examples of actions which may result in emotional abuse are: children constantly being told they are no good or worthless; children being continually rejected and shown no affection; children subjected to repeated verbal abuse and threats; children punished by being locked up alone or not being allowed to have friends or social activities (NSW Child Protection Council 1993).
Emotional abuse can harm children just as much as other forms of abuse, with which it can occur concurrently. It may, however, be difficult to identify because it does not leave any physical injuries. It often goes unrecognised until a child shows signs of emotional problems. These signs can include: changes in behaviour; lying and stealing; destructive or violent behaviour; rocking the body or sucking things; being very withdrawn or depressed; being aggressive and constantly seeking attention. These signs can also indicate other forms of abuse (NSW Child Protection Council 1993).
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From University of Kansas Department of Educational Psychology and Research
http://projects.scrtec.org/~adams/epr30 ... nish.shtml++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.here2listen.com/public/topic ... shment.htm l
The Uses and Abuses of Punishment
To eliminate undesired behaviors, it is usually more effective and lasting to reinforce desirable behavior than to punish the unwanted behavior. Sometimes, however, people and institutions decide that such reinforcement isn't practical or cannot be delivered expediently.
Unfortunately, it is widely accepted in this and other cultures that punishment is not only necessary but actually beneficial to character: "Spare the rod and spoil the child" (not a quote from the Bible, incidentally). Are the consequences of punishment, such as physically and verbally assaulting wrongdoers, serious enough that we should question such assumptions? When those in authority use punishment to control people's behavior, they show that they have failed to find constructive and rewarding ways to motivate others. Further, those who deliver punishment can lose control too easily and abuse their victims, especially children. Punishment causes physical harm, emotional scars, and hatred of the punisher. Worst of all, the punished person learns that aggression is an acceptable means of controlling others.(2)(3) Finally, when responses are punished, individuals may become helpless, defeated, and depressed. Because of these problems, punishment may be impossible to administer effectively, responsibly, and without costly side effects.
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http://www.nncc.org/221/classnotes/April17.html?Underneath every misbehavior is an unmet need. Physiological needs; Needs for security; Need to belong; Need to feel valued
221 LECTURE NOTES April 17, 2001
Guidance Techniques: A Counter-Argument to the "Rules and Consequences Face"
based on Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes by Alfie Kohn
The Truth about Behaviorism
Based on belief that you are what you do.
Founded on animal research - guess who's in control there??
Behavior change reliant on two strategies: reward (positive reinforcement) and punishment.
What is the Goal?
What kind of adults do we want children to become?
Do rewards and punishment accomplish that goal?
For whom are we using rewards and punishment?
At what price is obedience bought?
The Truth About Rewards
* Rewards punish.
* they are controlling: "If you do what I think is important, I will give you this. If you don't, I will make that happen to you."
when rewards are withheld or threatened to be withheld, it becomes punishment. "The question is not whether more flies can be caught with honey than with vinegar, but why the flies are being caught in the first place - and how this feels to the fly."
* Rewards rupture relationships.
* Emphasizes powerful-powerless relationship
* Negatively affects relationships among children:
* encourages judgments and acceptance based on behavior, not intrinsic worth
* diminishes helping and cooperating
* encourages competition - everyone else is a potential obstacle to me getting mine
* Negatively affects adult - child relationship
* most effective adult-child relationship for child's overall development is caring, trustworthy relationship in which children feel accepted and can rely on adult for help in solving problems
* Rewards reduce trust, willingness to ask for help
P. 58 "Both rewards and punishments induce a behavior pattern whereby we try to impress and curry favor with the person who hands them out. Whether we are looking to secure a reward or avoid a punishment is almost beside the point. Either way, what we don't have is the sort of relationship that is defined by genuine concern and that invites us to take the risk of being open and vulnerable - the sort of relationship that inspires people to do their best and can truly make a difference in their lives."
* Rewards ignore reasons
P. 59 [example of 3-year-old refusing to go to bed] Would reasons for misbehavior change the way you react?
* Rewards discourage risk-taking and creativity.
Risk-taking - you will do what you need to in order to receive the goody, and no more, nothing different
Creativity - "Rewards usually improve performance only at extremely simple - indeed, mindless - tasks, and even then they improve only quantitative performance." [books for pizza programs]
* Rewards decrease interest in the target behavior. P. 70 [magic markers experiment]
Some facts about extrinsic motivation:
* The reward becomes the goal, not the behavior.
* Rewarding a behavior will increase the incidence of that behavior as long as the reward continues and as long as the reward is rewarding.
* Intrinsic motivation doesn't take over once we've gotten children interested in the behavior through rewards. p. 74 - pizza for books
* Rewards lessen children's interest in the behavior even when the rewards are self-administered.
* Extrinsic motivators are most destructive for the behaviors that we want children to WANT to do.
* Extrinsically motivated people tend to be more depressed, feel more helpless.
* Rewards have a negative effect on motivation, regardless of age, tasks, gender.
* Intrinsic motivation (our long-term interest in continuing a behavior because of the behavior itself) is lessened when we are:
threatened.....watched ......expected to be evaluated .....forced to work under a deadline .....ordered around (if I have to be enticed to do this, there must be something about it I'm not supposed to like) .....competing against other people
The Truth about Punishment
*Punishment: Any reliance on power to make something unpleasant happen to a child as a way of trying to alter that child's behavior.
* Punishment teaches: the desire to avoid punishment (in whatever way possible)
* Punishment teaches: that when you are bigger or stronger than someone else, you can make them do what you want; control is important, valued; remember modeling!
* Punishment provokes: resistance and resentment; the adult is someone to be avoided
"The more you use power to control people, the less real influence you'll have on their lives."
Good Kids without Goodies
Set reasonable limits:
* have a defensible purpose: Is what you are asking children to do (or stop doing) reasonable?
* use minimal restrictiveness: Use the least amount of control necessary; "Don't move a child roughtly if you can move her gently; don't move her gently if you can tell her to move; don't tell her if you can ask her; don't ask her unless you have a good reason."
* have the child contribute to setting the limit (to the degree developmentally possible)
* Examine your need to be in control
If you were to ask a child in your classroom what the teachers want children to be like, what would they say?
* Research shows that the more controlling or coercive a parent is, the more diruptive and aggressive the child is away from home.
* Punishment teaches about the use of power, not how or why to behave properly.
* Punishment often assumes that children are in some way our adversaries, that if we don't "let them know who's boss" they will "try to get away with something" or that they've "won."
* There is a huge difference between: "You've misbehaved; now here's what I'm going to do to you." and "Something has gone wrong; what can we do about it?"
"But what about really bad behavior?"
"The negative effects of punishment and rewards are still negative, even when the child's behavior is especially disturbing or repeated."
Solving behavior problems: The Three C's
Content: What am I asking children to do? Is it reasonable considering the age or abilities or the child? considering the circumstances? Is it something I would value in an adult? Is it truly necessary?
Being willing to consider the reasonableness of your limit or request isn't being wishy-washy, it's being reasonable - a characteristic that will foster a child's trust and respect.
Collaboration :Give an explanation: Research shows that children are more likely to respond positively to a request what a rationale has been provided. Think outloud, with the child, about what went wrong and why. This ISN'T lecturing, this is discussing. Take the time to later evaluate the outcome with the child.
Choice Is the choice we offer a child truly a choice or a mind game in which we use words that sound as though the child rationally chose punishment?
