Can We Really Teach Self-Discipline — Or Does It Have to Be Learned Another Way?
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder discusses why self-discipline isn't something that can be taught through lessons, but rather something students develop through structure, practice, and consequences.
Key Takeaways
- Self-discipline isn't an academic subject - You can't teach self-control the way you teach fractions
- Structure builds discipline - Students develop self-control by practicing it within a structured environment with clear expectations
- Consequences are part of the learning - Experiencing the results of choices is how students internalize behavioral standards
Transcript
In my last video, I said behavior is not really a knowledge or skill issue.
When we have students who are struggling with their behavior, it's not that they don't know what to do.
They know what to do and they know what not to do.
And they're capable of doing it at least some of the time.
So it's not that they don't have the skill.
So when it comes to behavior, we're talking about something else.
And I asked in my last video what that something else might be because when we frame it as an instructional issue and you say, well, they just need to be taught.
Well, you don't need to be taught something you already know.
We use formative assessment to avoid teaching things that kids already know so that we can teach things that they don't know and practice skills that they actually need to develop.
So in thinking about what kind of thing behavior is, I keep coming back to the idea of self-discipline and self-control.
just that ability to make good decisions and to kind of do the right but harder thing.
And I'm concerned that by framing so much of what needs to happen in schools as instructional rather than as a way of, you know, as a task of inculcating self-discipline, that we're really ending up with some kind of bizarre policies.
Like imagine if your cross-country coach said, Well, we really need to develop our students' stamina if we want to win cross-country meets.
So we're going to have a lot of lessons on stamina.
We have a new stamina curriculum.
We're going to explain stamina, and we're going to practice stamina skills every day.
And I think that'll really help us win the cross-country meet.
Well, you might say, well, when are the kids going to actually run?
Because they're going to build their stamina by running and if they don't run all the lessons and all the exercises in the world other than running are not going to do it like it's just not going to to get them where they need to be and i think with behavior and self-discipline it's kind of the same thing like we can have lessons to introduce new concepts and to introduce new strategies for say self-regulation you know take a deep breath things like that but once students know those strategies that doesn't remove the need to practice self-discipline.
So I'm curious what you think about this need to inculcate self-discipline, if we can eliminate that from school, because I feel like we're doing a lot that tries to eliminate the need for self-discipline, but I'm not sure that we can.
Let me know what you think.