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One of the biggest problems facing teachers is the age-old idea that school is forced, useless,
and boring. This is not a new trend: several generations ago, kids complained about having to
go to school as well. The main issue is that there are other things that are considered much
more valuable to students: time with their peers, video games, TV shows, YouTube, music,
playing outside; the list goes on. There are endless opportunities for fun, and school is not
something that has traditionally been viewed as enjoyable. This idea is perpetuated by the
media, with characters in children’s TV shows continually judging school harshly, joking
about failing classes because they do not care about them, and the idea that what is learned in
school will not be useful for everyday life. Teachers need to be careful in approaching this
problem, as any direct confrontation can lead to backlash and an increase in disengagement
from school.
When teaching children in this light, there are several important factors that need to
be considered to convey the material effectively, and to avoid the authoritarian ideals that
most students think all teachers adhere to. One of these is the consideration of behavioral
learning, and how children learn through motivation, punishment, and reward. Getting
students to be intrinsically motivated (that is, to be motivated by innate values and goals) is
much more important than extrinsic motivation (that is, motivation fueled by external factors
such as money, candy, and food.) There need to be clear, reachable goals for the students to
strive toward in order to be engaged in the material at hand. If they are not interested, they
will be more likely to view school as “boring” and “forced”, as opposed to “intriguing”.
By motivating students in the appropriate way, we may be able to re-program how
they think about school and teach them lessons they will remember forever, as well as
This paper proposes that punishment and reward require a very fine balance in regards to one
another and that learning through motivation is an incredibly effective teaching method if one
rewards and punishes appropriately. Furthermore, this paper will argue that punishment has
its place in correcting student behavior in certain cases, and that praise is only positively
suggest that techniques such as rewards and goal-setting can improve a child’s motivation to
learn, which is an extremely important concept to keep in mind. Adolescents have been
found to be “more receptive to rewards… [and] it may be useful to frame things in more
positive terms… saying ‘I will give you a pound to do the dishes’ might work better than
saying ‘I will take a pound from your pocket money if you don’t do the dishes.’” (Science
Daily, 2016). It seems as though adolescents differ from adults in the sense that adults will
take rewards, consequences, and punishment into account when making decisions, whereas
adolescents have a much easier time focusing on rewards and less so on the consequences of
alternative actions.
It is also important to note that goal-setting has a massive impact on learning, and
student engagement. Something that students seem to often complain about often is how class
“drags on” and time seems to slow down when they are being taught. One way to combat this
is with goal-motivated learning: that is, using the concept of approach motivation (“when
[something] makes you want to go out and pursue or achieve something” (Daily Science,
2012)) to spur learning. States high in approach motivation “make us feel like time is passing
quickly because they narrow our memory and attention processes, helping us to shut out
irrelevant thoughts and feelings” (Daily Science, 2012). This may be a useful tool when
dealing with highly distractable students: if the teacher chooses to teach in a way that
increases approach motivation (i.e. connecting topics to student’s lives and showing how they
can improve in various areas) it is very likely students will pay more attention and have better
We know that goal-setting and rewards for achieving those goals are important for
learning, but how much is too much? North American society tends to put a lot of value on
overpraising children and making everybody feel as though they are a winner. There are
awards given to students who, in all honesty, do not deserve them. There are sports played
where they do not keep track of the score, and there is no real purpose to the game. This is
done in an attempt to lessen negative impacts on kids’ self-esteem and to give them all a
sense of accomplishment. There is nothing wrong with these ideas, as they are all done in a
genuine attempt to help the children create a positive self-image and to be able to encourage
However, research suggests these techniques can actually do more harm than good.
For example, researchers at Ohio State University discovered that children with low self-
esteem seem to be timider and more afraid of new challenging situations when people give
them too much praise (Science Daily, 2014). When children are identified as having low self-
esteem, they are twice as likely to be given excessive praise (i.e. when adults use words such
as “incredibly” and “perfect”). Children with high self-esteem tend to thrive on this praise, as
it boosts their already high ego, but children with low self-esteem seem to have a harder time
Additionally, when children are showered with overly positive praise, they are more
likely to be narcissistic and even develop lower self-esteem than children who are evaluated
accurately and encouraged with warmth (Science Daily, 2017a). Genetics may play a role in
this situation, as children who are more inherently likely to respond to stress may take overly
positive praise as a “challenge” of sorts, where they are unsure if they can repeat the praised
task at the same level. There is also evidence that people who self-praise too much are more
likely to be distressed and depressed when any potential flaws are pointed out (Science Daily,
2011), illustrating the point that accurate praise from adults and others in authority is
On the other hand, punishment has been put into the spotlight in recent years, with
many parenting books emphasizing positivity and highly criticizing punishment. Punishment
has become a tactic many parents are afraid of, not wanting to psychologically damage their
children or for their consequences to backfire. For example, research has been conducted that
shows that motivation through punishment can have the opposite effect parents want it to
(Science Daily, 2017b). If the consequence of an action is known before the action occurs,
“the brain uses [the known] behavioral consequences to trigger an action more easily, even if
However, not all psychologists agree in this regard. Although it is true that
punishment, when done incorrectly, can lead to a negative effect, in certain cases punishment
can be quite effective. “Scientifically supported parenting interventions for young defiant
children have found that timeouts and other types of assertive tactics can work if they’re
administered correctly” (Science Daily, 2015). In terms of children acting defiantly (i.e.
hitting others, blatant rudeness, disrespect to teachers, etc.) punishment has been found to be
more effective than reasoning or compliance. Furthermore, researchers found that “...timeout
used consistently for select behaviors and situations significantly reduced problem behaviors
over time”, indicating that using punishment appropriately can positively affect a child’s
outcome.
It is important to keep in mind that punishment is only effective when done
appropriately. Physical punishment (at least in North American settings) never leads to
positive outcomes, and only leads to aggression, anger, and resentment. This paper is not
certain situations.
How does all of this tie together in terms of teaching? It is important to realize that
behavioral teaching is an effective teaching method when done in the correct way. As stated
Students can get “too much of a good thing”; reinforcers can lose their potency if they
are overused… there are some convergencies - principles that apply to all people:
2. When actions lead to consequences that are positive for the person involved, those
5. Whatever their current level of functioning, students can learn to be more self-
Principles one, two, and four perfectly summarize the ideas of this paper: punishment
can lead to the extinction of certain behaviors that are deemed unacceptable in teachers’ eyes,
and positive reinforcement can lead to the repetition of desirable behaviors if the praise is a
lead to the reinforcement of the behavior or a resentment of the person who presented the
punishment. Alternatively, if praise is given too often or given for frivolous things that are
not sincere, it is not effective and can actually damage the child’s self-esteem and self-image.
It is incredibly important that we find this balance between reward and punishment,
for the benefit of both teachers and students. From the research above, it seems logical that
reward should be given on the merit of the student, not necessarily on the merit of their
achievements, as this could lead to potential discouragement for students who are less
academically successful. Instead, one should focus on giving credit for the logical processes
between problem and solution, and offer constructive criticism while giving appropriate
troublesome students, such as timeouts and removal of recess breaks, but also be careful not
With these techniques, gentle encouragement and reward yet firm rules, as well as
attempting to help them internalize concepts such as approach motivation, teachers can
expect more engaged students that retain more information and apply the information to their
own lives, turning school into a more positive and rewarding experience.
References
Science Daily. (2011). Too much undeserved self-praise can lead to depression. Retrieved
from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111020024846.htm
Science Daily. (2012). Time flies when you’re having goal-motivated fun. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120821144132.htm
Science Daily. (2014). When being called ‘incredibly good’ is bad for children. Retrieved
from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/01/140102112041.htm
Science Daily. (2015). Punishing a child is effective if done correctly. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150806144419.htm
Science Daily. (2016). Simple reward-based learning suits adolescents best. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160620161058.htm
Science Daily. (2017a). Motivation through punishment may not work. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/07/170704093910.htm
Science Daily. (2017b). Self-esteem in kids: Lavish praise is not the answer, warmth is.
Woolfolk, A., Winne, P. H., & Perry, N.E. (2015). Educational Psychology (custom ed.).