Teachers worry about school environment becoming lax
The Ministry of Education and Training is seeking comments on a draft Circular regulating rewards and discipline for students that is being widely consulted by the Ministry. Accordingly, students will be disciplined if they violate the Law on Education, school regulations or competent authorities, depending on the severity. Primary school students will be warned or asked to apologize; middle school and high school students will be warned, criticized or write a self-criticism.
Ms. NH, a teacher in Dong Hy district, Thai Nguyen province, expressed her agreement with the humanistic spirit that the draft aims for. With experience as a homeroom teacher with many naughty students, she shared that she often chooses the method of talking and understanding their feelings toeducate them instead of scolding or using harsh punishment.
"The purpose is to make students understand and change their perception. Punishment sometimes only causes fear and further resistance," said Ms. H.
Teachers are concerned that too light discipline will make it difficult to create school discipline (Illustration photo AI).
She appreciates the effectiveness of the "soft" form of education and sees its effectiveness when implemented. Although there are many naughty students in the class, Ms. H. rarely has to resort to writing self-criticisms.
Still, she expressed concerns about eliminating stronger penalties altogether.
"We still need to keep some punishments heavier than writing self-criticism for students who are too unruly. If we remove all of them, it will be very difficult to handle if students commit serious violations and show no progress," Ms. H. expressed her opinion.
According to the female teacher, depending on the student, if sharing, talking, and psychological treatment do not change the student's behavior, stronger disciplinary measures should still be used.
Sharing the same concern, teacher Ho Nhu Hien, a history teacher in Thanh Hoa , frankly said that the draft revealed the inadequacy between the goal of humanistic education and the establishment of discipline in schools.
According to Mr. Hien, in the context of increasingly complex and dangerous violations of school regulations (school violence, insulting teachers, cheating on exams, using illegal substances, etc.), completely eliminating strict forms of discipline such as warnings in front of the whole school or temporary suspension from school is a major shortcoming.
Loss of deterrence if only writing a review?
The male teacher analyzed that "gentle" forms of punishment such as warning, criticism, or writing a self-criticism are not enough to deter students with serious misconduct.
In reality, many students write self-criticisms perfunctorily, but their misconduct continues. When schools do not take strong enough measures, the seriousness of education will be eroded and discipline will become a formality.
School violence is still a hot issue in recent times (Photo cut from clip).
"The drafters seem to have placed too much faith in students' ability to self-regulate their behavior through gentle reminders, while underestimating the psychological characteristics of adolescents.
That is the age when the ego is forming, easily impulsive, likes to show off and often only reacts when there are clear consequences," Mr. Hien expressed.
According to this teacher, positive education does not mean eliminating all forms of discipline, but rather combining love with clear limits. Without discipline, students can easily confuse the right to be respected with the right to act without limits. Humanity in education is only truly meaningful when combined with responsibility and moral training.
On the other hand, he warned that a lax disciplinary system would make serious students feel unfair because their violations were not properly dealt with. This could easily lead to discouragement, reduced motivation to learn and reduced team spirit.
More worryingly, teachers, who are directly responsible for maintaining classroom order, will be severely limited in their ability to deal with student misbehavior.
"Without the right tools, teachers will become helpless," said Mr. Ho Nhu Hien.
To address this issue, both Ms. H. and Mr. Hien suggested that the draft should classify the level of violation and retain some more severe forms of discipline for intentional, serious or repeated violations. Mr. Ho Nhu Hien emphasized the need to combine discipline with psychological support and moral education, viewing discipline as part of the process of helping students perceive and adjust their behavior.
Open regulatory framework needed to promote positive discipline
In fact, many high schools have proactively implemented positive forms of discipline in recent years. Typically, at Bui Thi Xuan High School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), Phan Huy Chu High School (Dong Da, Hanoi), Van Don Secondary School (District 4, Ho Chi Minh City)...
Each school will provide different positive education such as: Students who violate the rules may be asked to go to the library to read books and write their feelings or participate in summer labor, clean the environment, take care of trees...
Therefore, there are also opinions that there should be more openness in regulations on rewarding and disciplining students.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/bo-dinh-chi-hoc-giao-vien-lo-bat-luc-truoc-hoc-sinh-ngo-nghich-20250509213547976.htm
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