Principles and Goals of Integral Education

XI

On Discipline

A student who has been properly trained in the art of employing in the right way the principle of "Free Progress" cannot but be automatically disciplined. And what is pleasing is that this discipline will come from within himself, a happy and highly beneficial self-discipline, and not something imposed upon him from outside by an alien authority, be he a teacher, a parent or a guardian. This imposed discipline cannot but stunt the free growth of a child and hamper the spontaneous flowering of his inborn personality.

Especially, if a particular student is trained to appreciate genuine beauty, — and by beauty we do not mean at all conventional physical beauty with all its cosmetic appendages, but the beauty of thoughts and feelings and sensations and behaviour, — ninety per cent of the task of disciplining him is already achieved. For he has not to be guided any more from outside with a stem set of "dos and don'ts", the default of which will carry its own requisite punishment; but the healthy sense of an inner beauty and harmony of the student will automatically dissuade him from indulging in any unbeauteous action or reaction. And that is one of the desirable side-effects of the "Free Progress" System of education.

However, all the students may not be at once up to the mark of the teachers' expectation. For them, here are some words, words of admonition and warning:

It seems necessary to draw once again the attention of

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the students to the capital role that discipline should play in our "Free Progress" system of education. One has the right to be 'free' or even the possibility of becoming truly 'free' only if one is perfectly disciplined. Without genuine discipline, even the slightest self-control becomes impossible and one becomes all the time a mean slave of one's impulses and fantasies. But with discipline, you students have here all the opportunity for becoming constantly progressive.

Never forget that we want here, in our Centre of Education which bears the name of our Master, Sri Aurobindo, only those students who aspire after a truly higher and better life, who have thirst for knowledge and perfection, and ardently look towards a glorious future of truth.

We remind you once again that students here have the great possibility of making a genuine progress, internally as well as externally. But it is evident that if the general attitude and behaviour of a particular student leaves much to be desired, this will prove that he does not deserve to participate in the framework of "Free Progress", or still more, he does not deserve to be here.

Here are some words of the Mother:

"Discipline is indispensable to physical life....

Discipline is indispensable to progress. It is only when

one imposes a rigorous and enlightened discipline on

oneself that one can be free from the discipline of others."

(CWM, Vol. 12, p. 382)

Here is a question specifically placed before the Mother:

"Mother, what are the rules of conduct You consider

indispensable in our community?"

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The Mother's Answer:

"Patience, perseverance, generosity, broad-mindedness, insight, calm and understanding firmness, and control over the ego until it is completely mastered or even abolished." (Ibid., p. 375)

On Discipline

(Mother's Words to the Teachers)

The Mother spoke or wrote about the necessity of discipline much more to the teachers than to the young students. Because she did not like that the teachers themselves would not follow a discipline which they would like to impose upon their students, hoping all the time that mere admonition on their part would do the magic trick, when in fact the result would be exactly the reverse. We deem it proper to give below some of the significant words addressed by the Mother to the teachers of SAICE so that an all-round effort could be made towards discipline from both the sides, the side of the teachers as well as from that of the students.

(1) "Constraint is not the best or the most effective principle of education. The true education should open out and reveal what is already there in these developing beings. Just as flowers open out in the sun, children open out in joy. Obviously joy does not mean weakness, disorder and confusion, — but a luminous kindliness that encourages what is good and does not severely emphasise what is bad. Grace is always closer to the truth than justice." (Ibid., pp. 193-94)

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(2)"Generally speaking, above the age of twelve all children need discipline." (Ibid., p. 194)

(3)Question: "Some teachers believe that you are opposed to discipline."

The Mother's Answer:

"For them, discipline is an arbitrary rule that they impose on the little ones, without conforming to it themselves. I am opposed to that kind of discipline." (Ibid.)

(4)Question: "So discipline is a rule which the child should impose on himself. How can he be led to recognise the need for it? How can he be helped to follow it?"

The Mother's Answer:

"Example is the most powerful instructor. Never demand from a child an effort of discipline that you do not make yourself. Calm, equanimity, order, method, absence of useless words, ought to be constantly practised by the teacher if he wants to instil them into his pupils." (Ibid.)

(5)"The teacher should always be punctual and come to the class a few minutes before it begins, always properly dressed. And above all, so that his students should never lie, he must never lie himself; so that his students should never lose their tempers, he should never lose his temper with them.... These are elementary and preliminary things which ought to be practised in all schools without exception." (Ibid., pp. 194-95)

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(6)"One can be in psychological control of the children only when one is in control of one's own nature." (Ibid., p. 195)

(7)"Be very calm and very patient, never get angry; one must be master of oneself in order to be a master of others." (Ibid.)

(8)"If you cannot keep discipline amongst the children, don't beat or shout or get agitated — that is not permissible. Bring down calm and peace from above and under their pressure things will improve." (Ibid.)

(9)"You are a good teacher but it is your way of dealing with the children that is objectionable.

The children must be educated in an atmosphere of love and gentleness.

No violence, never. No scolding, never.

Always a gentle kindness...." (Ibid., p. 196)

(10)"...the teacher must be the living example of the virtues the child must acquire." (Ibid.)

(11)"The children must be happy to go to school, happy to learn, and the teacher must be their best friend who gives them the example of the qualities they must acquire.

And all that depends exclusively on the teacher. What he does and how he behaves." (Ibid.)

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(12)"It is not with severity but with self-mastery that children are controlled." (Ibid., p. 196)

(13)"I must tell you that if a teacher wants to be respected, he must be respectable." (Ibid., pp. 196-97)

(14)"I have always thought that something in the teacher's character was responsible for the indiscipline of his students." (Ibid., p. 197)

(15)"The most important is to master yourself and never lose your temper. If you don't have control over yourself, how can you expect to control others, above all, children, who feel it immediately when someone is not master of himself?" (Ibid.)

(16)"One rule which must be rigorously applied:

It is absolutely forbidden to hit the children — all blows are forbidden, even the slightest little slap or the so-called friendly punch. To give a blow to a child because he does not obey or does not understand or because he is disturbing the others indicates a lack of self-control, and it is harmful for both teacher and student." (Ibid.)

(17)"Disciplinary measures may be taken if necessary, but in complete calm and not because of a personal reaction." (Ibid.)

(18)Question: "How far do you consider it the duty of a teacher or an instructor to impose discipline on the students ?"

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The Mother's Answer:

"To prevent the students from being irregular, rude or negligent is obviously indispensable; unkind and harmful mischief cannot be tolerated.

But as a general and absolute rule, the teachers and especially the physical education instructors must be a constant living example of the qualities demanded from the students; discipline, regularity, good manners, courage, endurance, patience in effort, are taught much more by example than by words. And as an absolute rule: never to do in front of a child what you forbid him to do." (Ibid., pp. 363-64)

(19)"For the rest, each case implies its own solution, and one must act with tact and discernment.

That is why to be a teacher or an instructor is the best of all disciplines, if one knows how to comply with it." (Ibid., p. 364)

(20)"Naturally, as the consciousness and intelligence develop in the children, it is more and more through them that we can deal with the children." (Ibid., p. 379)

(21)"A child ought to stop being naughty because he learns to be ashamed of being naughty, not because he is afraid of punishment.

In the first case, he makes true progress.

In the second, he falls one step down in human consciousness, for fear is a degradation of consciousness." (Ibid., p. 364)

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The last two sayings of the Mother sum up everything essential in the matter and let us close this section at this point.

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