3.6.3 The Method of Rewords and Punishment

This method is clearly illustrated in the training of “trick” animals. These creatures through innumerable repetitions are made to do phenomenal “stunts.” In the training for every successful “try” they are rewarded with a cube of sugar, a piece of candy, or some other pleasure-producing article; for every miss they are punished—made to suffer pain or discomfort.

This same sort of procedure carries over into human affairs. Witness the hickory stick and the ruler, or count the nickels and caresses. Ridicule before the class, and praise for commendable behavior or performance, are typical of this same method.

If it is followed, and it clearly has a place in the training of children, care should be exercised to see that in the child’s mind in any case there is clear connection between what he has done and the treatment that he receives.

With some parents it fairly seems as if their one remedy for all offences is a tingling in the epidermis—it is equally clear that with some teachers their one weapon is sarcasm. All too frequently these measures grow out of unsettled nerves or stirred up passions, on the part of the parent or teacher, and have really but little connection—remote at best—with the offense in question.

There may be an abuse in the matter of rewards, too, of course, but as a rule few classes suffer from too much appreciation. The real art of discipline lies in making the reward or the punishment naturally grow out of the conduct indulged in

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