Philosophical and Psychological Foundations of Education

QUOTATIONS BY TOPIC

DISCIPLINE

Begin with the line of [a student’s] native interests, and offer him objects that have some immediate connection with these. . . . Schools in which these methods preponderate are schools where discipline is easy, and where the voice of the master claiming order and attention in threatening tones need never be heard. ~ William James, Talks to Teachers

The time for faults is the time for fables. Censure of an offender under cover of a fiction gives instruction without offence. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile

Those children who have been the most chastised seldom make the best men. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

Do not, then, for the mere sake of discipline, command attention from your pupils in thundering tones. Do not too often beg it from them as a favor, nor claim it as a right, nor try habitually to excited it by preaching the importance of the subject. Sometimes, indeed, you must do these things; but, the more you have to do them, the less skilful teacher you will show yourself to be. Elicit interest from within, by the warmth with which you care for the topic yourself, and by following the laws I have laid down. ~ William James, Talks to Teachers

[Punishment] should always come to [children] as the natural consequence of their bad conduct. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile

The withdrawal of respect is the only fit punishment for lying. ~ Immanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education

Punishments inflicted with signs of anger are useless. Children then look upon the punishment simply as the result of anger, and upon themselves merely as victims of that anger; and as a general rule punishment must be inflicted on children with great caution, that they may understand that its one aim is their improvement. . . . ~ Immanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education

For extravagant young fellows, that have liveliness and spirit, come sometimes to be set right, and so make able and great men: but dejected minds, timorous and tame, and low spirits, are hardly ever to be raised, and very seldom attain to anything. To avoid the danger that is on either hand is the great art: and he that has found a way how to keep up a child's spirit, easy, active, and free; and yet, at the same time, to restrain him from many things he has a mind to, and to draw him to things that are uneasy to him; he, I say, that knows how to reconcile these seeming contradictions, has, in my opinion, got the true secret of education. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

The surest way to make your child unhappy is to accustom him to get everything he wants. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile

Give with pleasure, refuse with regret, but let your refusals be irrevocable. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile

A refusal should always be final. This will shortly have the effect of making its repetition unnecessary. ~ Immanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education

Do not even let him guess that he has annoyed you. Behave as if the furniture had got broken of itself. Consider you have done very well if you can avoid saying anything. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile

Thus, people, to prevail with children to be industrious about their grammar, dancing, or some other such matter, of no great moment to the happiness or usefulness of their lives, by misapplied rewards and punishments, sacrifice their virtue, invert the order of their education, and teach them luxury, pride, or covetousness. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

Let therefore your rules to your so be as few as is possible, and rather fewer than more than seem absolutely necessary. For is you burden him with many rules, one of these two things must necessarily follow, that either he must be very often punished, which will be of ill consequence, by making punishment too frequent and familiar; or else you must let the transgressions of some of your rules go unpunished, whereby they will of course grow contemptible, and your authority become cheap to him. Make but few laws but see they be well observed, when once made. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

Rules are needed for faculty as well as students, but we must resist too much codification. Institutions of higher learning should not be legalistic in tone or litigious in practice. Faculty-student relations should be guided by a rapport, cooperative spirit, and zest for inquiry; to these, legalism and rigid codes are inimical. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning

[The teacher] does not need to resort to punishment, because the rules are not sacred to her. ~ Nel Noddings, Caring: A Feminist Approach to Ethics and Moral Education

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Last updated:
September 19, 2008 4:23 PM