A technically definition of punishment is that it is an action administered to a criminal or a person who has behaved inappropriately with an aim of correcting such behavior. In most cases it inflicts pain either physically or psychology. (Miltenberger, 2011, p.104) Punishment can either be positive or negative in nature. Positive punishment is the presentation of an aversive stimulus immediately after a behavior has occurred so as to discourage a repeat of such behavior by the victim. On the other hand, negative punishment involves the withdrawal of the reinforcement that is encouraging an occurrence of undesired behavior. Whichever form it takes, use of punishment in the classroom should be the last option that I teacher should go for.
Ethical considerations should be accorded choice and use of punishment in the classroom. First, every punishment procedures should be logical, timely and of a very well informed consent. Before a student is subjected to any restrictive procedures, his or her consent should be first sought from a legal guardian or parent. (Miltenberger, 2011, p. 374) Secondly, the punisher should explore and exhaust all other alternative methods of correction first before settling on punishment. Miltenberger argues that less restrictive and non-aversive treatments developed from a functional assessment in some cases may help eliminate undesirable behavior more perfectly than punishment. At the initial stages less restrictive procedures should be tried out. More aversive steps should only be employed if these attempts fail.
Second category of ethical issues involved in the use of punishment in classroom is the recipient safety, problem severity and the implementation guidelines. Any punishment procedure should ensure that the recipient is not harmed. In this regard, physical guidance is very necessary to ensure that the agent of such changes does not lead to physical or mental harm. Therefore, if an aversive stimulus is bound to cause harm it should not be meted out. On the same note, punishment should therefore be administered on more undesirable behaviors. The severity of such behaviors can be weighed according to the degree of the threat that they pose for the victims and their environment.
In conclusion, to ensure that ethical considerations of punishment in classroom are observable, clear written guidelines should be used. In fact all behavior corrective measures should have guidelines to eliminate any for m of ambiguity before, during and after they have been meted out.
Reference
Miltenberger, R. G. (2011). Behavior Modification: Principles & Procedures (5 ed.). USA: Cengage Learning.
