The
issue of student behavior has for years been a major concern of teachers,
administrators and parents due to a direct significant impact on effectiveness
of teaching and learning. (Wikipedia, 2008) states
that academic achievements are correlated with behavior problems. Hence,
teacher must play a democratic role rather than autocratic in maintaining
student’s behavior to illuminate their brains with knowledge, values and better attitude. Behavior problems are caused due to many
reasons, which are varied and many.
First
and the most important reasons why children misbehave are to get attention.
These children usually do almost anything to be the centre of attention from
being argumentative to being funny. According to Rudolf Dreikurs “when a child is deprived of the
opportunity to gain status through his useful contribution, he usually seeks
proof of his status in class through getting attention” (2004, p.39).The one
who usually seeks attention may show their discipline as disturbing the class,
teasing, disrespect, being uncooperative, swearing, talking, being out of his
seat, and making fun of others. Dreikurs believed that over 90% of all
misbehavior is for seeking attention.
Next
when they fail to seek attention they move on to more problematic goal- seeking
behavior as Dreikurs indicated it as power. The power- seeking child wants to
be the boss in the class and their active type is label as “Rebel”. These student
often argue, contradicts, lies, dawdling, may have violent temper tantrums and
refuse to do their work and is openly disobedient (Cassel & Ferguson,
2004). If the child is of the
passive type, his laziness is much more pronounced than in the seeking
attention, so that he usually not work at all, may forget, becomes stubborn and
is passively disobedient.
Somehow, if the teacher is thwarted student’s
seeking power by teacher’s power method then the students become deeply
discourage and seeks next challenging behavior known as “revenge”. The revenge
seeking child is so deeply discouraged that he feels that only by hurting
others, as he feels hurt by them, can find his place (Cassel
& Ferguson, 2004). Revenge may come in the form of a physical or
psychological attack to hurt others. The revenge seeking-child may injure his
classmates, teacher and other class students. He may scratch, bite and kick.
Finally, Dreikurs suggested that a child who
has tried passive destructive forms of attention- getting in order to achieve
the feeling of ‘belonging’ may eventually become so deeply discouraged that he
gives up all hope of significance and expects only failure and defeat. These
students have a feeling of hopelessness about finding a place and they do not
invest their best efforts in studies and they waste the valuable time. Their
actions appear stupid, indolence, ineptitude and inferiority complex.
Obviously, social factor also play another
vital role in influencing the students behavior problems. Substance abuse is
one of the social factors that reduce the time, energy, and ability of students
to attend to academic tasks. Moreover, indirect abuse of children through
poverty, the media influence, and lack of family support increases student
aggressive behavior. Another social factor which influences student’s behavior
is the cultural diversity. According to Garcia cited in Jones and Jones (2004)
“Linguistically and culturally diverse students find themselves in vulnerable
situations on entering U.S schools”.
All
behavior is purposive. Researchers have pointed out the importance of understanding
students behaviors. In
this light, teacher and student relationships are essential to ensure a positive
school/classroom atmosphere. Moreover, in order manage the class effective
teacher requires the ability to implement a very large number of diagnostic,
instructional, managerial, and therapeutic skills, tailoring behavior in
specific contexts and situations to the specific needs of the moment.
Reference List
Ø Anonymous
(n.d). Discipline. Retrieved August
12, 2008, from
Ø Jones,
V., & Jones, L. (2004).Classroom
management. New York: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication- Data.
Ø Cassel, P and Furguson, E. D (2004). Discipline without tears: How to Reduce Conflict and Establish Cooperation in the Classroom. Canada: National Library of Canada
Cataloguing in Publication
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