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 “bad”. 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 started”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.