The Role of Self-Discipline

AMITAI ETZIONI is University Professor at George Washington Utriversity, H/ashiiigIon. D.C. This article is bused on Chapter 6 of his latest book. An Immodest Agenda (New York: McGraw-Hill. 19821. 1982. Arnitai Etzioni. uch of the talk about the cognitive deficiencies exhibited by many U.S. pupils tends to focus on teaching methods (e.g., phonics versus sightreading) and teaching resources (e.g., numbers and qualifications of teachers). Nobody claims that character development is not also important. However, from the pages of the Kappan to the staff meetings in my neighborhood public school, character development receives much less attention as a goal of schooling. Most important, character development is not typically seen as directly tied to cognitive achievement. I believe that one character trait, the level of self-discipline, is of central importance (accounts for much of the variance) both for cognitive achievement in school and for the level of performance in society as worker, citizen, and fellow human being. It deserves more attention from both researchers and educators. To illustrate my thesis, let us look first at a simple incident. A young secretary, recently hired, was asked to use the Yellow Pages of the telephone directory. When she was unable to d o so, it became evident that she did not command the alphabet or understand the principles of categorization and subcategorization involved. Such inability would usually be counted as an example of a cognitive deficiency an outcome of poor teaching, i f not low I.Q. However, if we ask why it is difficult to teach someone a list of 26 items and the principles of a very simple index, we soon realize that something more is amiss than simple lack of teaching time and effort. Nor could this inability be related to I.Q. for most pupils, because learning the alphabet requires little comprehension or intelligence. What would it take you to memorize, say, a telephone number of 26 digits? A considerable amount of effort, but nor cognitive effort. Instead, this task would take concentration, control of impulse, self-motivation, and the ability to face and overcome stress (in order to resist distractions and accept the “routine” work involved). This element of psychic organization the capacity to mobilize and commit psychic energy to a task is what I hypothesize that those who are not learning well lack most. It is what seems to account for their “inability” to do elementary computation (i.e., to memorize a few rules and adhere to them) or to write a coherent expository paragraph (i.e., to remember the rules of punctuation, syntax, and so on). In one public opinion survey after another, teachers and parents rank discipline as the number-one problem of the schools. This attention to discipline is highly relevant: It focuses on the school as a structure in which learning is to take place and suggests that in a classroom where the proper relationships between pupils and their teachers and a proper learning atmosphere cannot be developed and maintained learning is difficult, if not impossible. Unfortunately, the focus on discipline is itself partially misdirected. Discipline, as most people mderstand it, is highly external. Teachers and principals “lay down the law” and will not brook back talk; students “show respect” by rising when their teacher enters the room, not speaking unless spoken to, and so on. But it seems to me that what many pupils all of them future adults need more of is seu-discipline, i.e., the ability to mobilize and commit themselves. This self-discipline is developed in structured situations, not in authoritarian ones. The line between structure and authoritarianism is easy to illustrate but not to define with great precision. Basically, what students need is not close, continuous external supervision but a school structure authority figures, rules, and organization of tasks that will build up their capacity to regulate themselves. This is best achieved, it seems, when what is required of the students is clearly explained and closely linked to educational goals, rather than arbitrarily announced, changed at will, and aimed as much at salving teachers’ egos as at educational enhancement. To advance self-discipline requires that assignments be “do-able,” appropriately evaluated, and rewarded.