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Effect Of Punishment And Reward On Academic Performance Of Senior Secondary School Students
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Students
are priceless assets and most essential elements in education. It is
absolutely necessary to direct students to exhibit acceptable attitude
and behavior within and outside the school. In an attempt to achieve an
organized and peaceful school environment and maintain law and order,
school management specifies rules and regulations to guide the
activities of members of the educational organization. Student’s
discipline is a prerequisite to almost everything a school has to offer
students (Selfert and Vornberg, 2002). Seifert and Vornberg further
linked discipline with both the culture and climate of the school thus.
In schools where discipline is a serious problem, for example, where
students bully others, parents tend to transfer their children to
‘better’ schools, and because the well behaved usually perform well
(Rigby, 2000), their transfer can affect the overall performance of that
school. Troublesome students can sometimes make teachers react
emotionally to the extent of using punishment. But punishment, instead
of curbing behavior, can aggravate it (Dreikurs, Grunwald and Pepper
1998). Currently, schools have different types of reward and penalty
policy in place, but almost all of them have one common goal which is to
motivate students to learn. Educators nowadays are aware that giving
penalties are counterproductive.
Punishment is the use of physical or
psychological force or action that causes pain in an attempt to prevent
undesirable behavior from recurring. Scolding, threats,deprivations,
and spankings are all forms of punishment. Back in the nineteenth
century, Froebel wrote that the use of punishment was a good way for
adults to make a child “badâ€. If the goal for child is the development
of morality, of making good choices on his /her own, then punishment
should not be involved .conditions should be created that not only allow
but strongly induce children to be or become moral and disciplined
individuals who can make good choices on their
own(Bettelheim,1985;Ramsburg,1997).Punishment tends to generate anger,
defiance, and a desire for revenge. Moreover, it also gives
encouragement to the use of authority rather than reason thus this would
tend to break the relationship between adult and child (Kohn,
1994).Punishment teaches a child that those who have the power can force
others to do what they want them to do(Bettelheim,1985;Samalin and
Whitney,1995)
Children can be categorizedas intrinsically or
extrinsically motivated. Every teacher in the classroom uses strategies
to acknowledge and encourage appropriate social and academic behavior by
their students. These strategies take many forms,some overt and some
dramatic (presentation of tokens or recognition at an assembly). Since
Thorndike (1874-1949) described the Law of effect,educators and
psychologists have noted that when a behavior is successful it is more
likely to occur again in similar circumstances. Many teachers believe
that motivation can be “jump startedâ€by providing tangible rewards such
as stickers, candy or prizes.They assert that reinforcing appropriate
behaviors can have positive results since children tend to continue or
repeat an action that is rewarded. Others argue that rewards devalue
learning and counteract the development of self –discipline and
intrinsic motivation. These opponents assert that tangible rewards
produce short-term changes and only serve as motivators if students
wants them.They contend the use of rewards fosters competition and the
“what’s in it for me?†attitude;the more they are used, the more
incentives students expect. The simple message is that the consequences
of a behavior affect future performance of that behavior. If, following
the contingent delivery of a consequence, a behavior becomes more likely
in the future, then that consequence was reinforcing or rewarding.An
effective rewards and penalty system promotes positive behavior and
regular attendance. It is the essential foundation for a creative
learning and teaching environment.The ultimate goal of rewarding
children is to help them internalize positive behaviours so that they
will not need a reward. Eventually, self-motivation will be sufficient
to induce them to perform the desired behaviour, and outside
reinforcement will no longer be necessary.
This research therefore,
points out that in order to impart knowledge and facilitate students
learning, teachers make use of different strategies (punishment and
reward). The forms of punishment under study in this research are
corporal punishment, suspension, and expulsion and the types of reward
under study in this research are intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]This study examined the effect of punishment and reward on academic performance of senior secondary school students in Shomolu local government area of Lagos State. Five research questions were formulated to guide the study. Through the process of simple random sampling, a total of two hundred (200) students from five (5) senior secondary schools were selected to participate in the study. The major instrument used for collecting data was a questionnaire tagged EPRAP. The data collected were anal ... Continue reading---
