Write
a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or
disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position
you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should
consider ways in which the statement might or might not hold true and
explain how these considerations shape your position.
There are many ways how to educate and
teach. Many schools prefer one system or the other but still nobody
was able to come up with only one and the best method, even though
many philosophers and teachers used to contemplate on the topic. Nevertheless, in
my opinion, I cannot agree that praising positive actions and
ignoring negative ones is the best approach to teaching. The recommendation gives too strong "all or nothing" impression.
Fist, we should consider current
educational system which offers wide range of marks. Different
countries apply various measures but probably none of the systems
incorporates only good marks. For example, there are marks from 1 to
6 in Poland educational system from primary through middle to
secondary schools, where 1 is the worst one and 6 is the best one.
The better the student, the higher mark she or he can obtain. On the
other hand, one of the British systems uses letters from A to F,
where A is the highest mark and F the lowest one (fail). The main aim
in these methods is to provide students with a measurable feedback
that can help them understand their abilities, draw their attention
to weak points and encourage them to work on them. At the same time, it points
out positive facets and praise or inspire students to repeat merit behaviour. Merely positive marks would leave lazy students confused and without any motivation or support.
Second, from the psychological
perspective there are many examples that show different approaches.
There was a famous experiment called “Pavlov's dogs” in which a
dog was awarded a bowl of food if it carried out a given task
properly, otherwise was given nothing. This was a simple 0 or 1
system that included both negative and positive aspects. More
sophisticated outlook on the issue is given in the book by Anthony
Robbins: “Awaken the giant inside”. The author argues that there
are two basic forces that influence each of us. One of them is to
gain pleasure, whereas the other one is to avoid pain. Moreover, it
occurs that in many cases the force to get rid of or eschew pain is
more powerful than the one to pursue happiness or bliss.
Personally, my opinion is that it would
be rather improbable to discourage children from drugs only by giving
them positive feedback. One of the most powerful way to teach
children about the consequences of alcohol and drug addiction is to
take them to a detox ward and show them the miserable effects of such conduct. It is dreadful
but at the same time memorable and powerful experience. Furthermore,
when children start drinking alcohol or taking drugs, there is no
other way but one – to reprimand them and force them to shun
the addictive substances.
In conclusion, current situation and
psychological experiments prove that a human being is driven by both
praise and punishment. If we are only praised all the time, we
usually become complacent. In contrary, the ongoing and eternal
punishment can harm us deeply and prevent from any development. Thus,
we should search for a golden rule and apply these two forces in the
right proportions to strike the balance.
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