The Effects and Effectiveness of Punishment in Schools
In response to the severity and prevalence of disciplinary problems, many schools have opted to adopt punishment-based disciplinary approaches such as the zero tolerance policy. Although such disciplinary approaches have become widely practiced, the position set forth in this paper is that punitive approaches may not only fail to produce the appropriate outcomes, but also worsen the situation (National Association of School Psychologists [NASP] "Introduction"). Rather, to eliminate the disciplinary problems, positive discipline strategies that are based on making appropriate changes to the environment should be utilized (NASP "Positive Discipline Strategies Improve Safety and Outcomes for All Students").
By citing various sources that refer to research studies, this paper will provide evidence to indicate that punitive policies result in the following outcomes:
Failure to address the origin of the students' disciplinary problems;
Failure to improve the learning environment; and
Increase in student dropout rates (Cotton "Ineffective Disciplinary Practices"; NASP "Punish-Based Discipline Does Not Improve School Safety, Learning or Behavior").
Moreover, evidence will be cited to prove that positive disciplinary approaches produce beneficial outcomes:
Effective formulation and enforcement of appropriate rules;
Utilization of innovative approaches;
Provision of training to help students develop alternative positive behaviors; and
Creation of an ethnical and caring environment (Cotton; Gaustad; Geiger; NASP "Positive Discipline Strategies"; Pastor; Traynor).
In the remainder of this paper, each of these points will be discussed. This discussion will prove that punitive disciplinary strategies should be replaced by positive disciplinary approaches in schools.
On the whole, research studies have shown that punitive approaches such as su...