Children FEEL, they are not OBJECTS, they are flesh and blood FEELING INDIVIDUALS. I refuse to treat them as THINGS so I can say that I 'm a scientist that I am "objective." This does not mean I discount all the things that have been discovered using the scientific model. That would be reverse prejudice. No, I examine what scientists find and then I decide if it is true for me and my class. I try it. Sometimes it fails because I don't understand it and other times it is because it is not true for me. Many times it is very helpful and I incorporate it into my program. With children I balance AFFECTION with logical consequences, sometimes called, FEAR! That is why I'm effective and can discipline them. I could dehumanize them into robots. It is done by repetition, pettiness, and boredom. It is also easy to be pessimistic about children and schools. I prefer to be optimistic. I learn from my failures and I let the children learn from theirs. That is how this book evolved - from my failures and from watching the anguish of my colleagues. I found that many could not establish nor maintain a consistent and effective learning climate. Their classrooms were crisis centers and they suffered from many psychological and physiological problems. These in turn continued a vicious cycle in which they attacked and degraded the children and then they were attacked by them. …show more content…
Apparently it still remains a problem of national concern if I am to believe what I read happening throughout the country. What I offer, what I have developed is a program that walks a tightrope. I try to BALANCE my belief in and encouragement of each child's UNIQUENESS and WORTH with an AWARENESS of their RESPONSIBILITY to the many GROUPS in which they