The Problem of Discipline and Its Formation

The author mentions various contexts which give rise to the appearance of social and educational demands on the discipline of the individual, and she also draws attention to various objections and reasons leading to these demands being rejected. A simplified and one-sided approach to the handling of these intricate questions is considered by the author to be wrong and socially damaging. Therefore she looks upon the pedagogical problems of discipline, too, in broader contexts, especially social ones. She gives a survey of the present-day state of discipline in schools as portrayed by professional literature and, at the same time, she gives an account of the results of an inquiry into these questions at some Prague Nine-Year Schools and gymnasiums (i. e. four upper forms of the secondary school of a grammar school type). She analyses the sociological, psychological and pedagogical aspects of the typical cases of indiscipline, and draws some conclusions regarding the formation of discipline: she points out the broader social contexts and pre-requisites, criticizes the authoritarian approach of teachers to pupils, underlines the active socio-integration style of education, seeing an important component of discipline in stimulating self-education, especially among adolescents.