Discipline is the problem, not the solution!

In the few months I taught at a state school I was able to observe the battle for power between the students and the teachers as it took place in front of my eyes. Despite my attempts, which were sometimes quite desperate, to create a cooperative relationship with the kids, I finally understood that such a mission hasn’t got any chances of being fulfilled in the traditional system. No matter how good of a teacher you are, no matter how progressive your thinking is and no matter how much you love children, there are just too many outside coercions which you simply cannot override (the curriculum, the age segregation, the tests, the grades etc.). Not surprisingly, it’s these coercions that undermine any effort for creating an appropriate  environment for learning.