DISCIPLINE

In the existing paradigm of education, discipline is something imposed from without. A student who accepts it is rewarded with approval. But what is being managed is fear — fear of authority, fear of its displeasure, fear of being judged negatively. When this external authority is removed, the discipline easily goes with it, because the student has learned to satisfy someone else, not to understand the consequence for themselves. What is learned, then, is the skill of appearing disciplined in front of whoever is watching and judging.

Honesty with oneself is a precondition of discipline understood this way. A person cannot see a consequence for what it is while producing an account of themselves designed for someone else. Qualities such as discipline and honesty are not really separable. When we talk about a person having integrity, they are able to embody and live these qualities as one.

When an institution or school is imbued with a culture of teamwork, this kind of internal, self-generated discipline has an opportunity to grow. Schumacher's third aspect of good work — that it lets people cooperate and move beyond egocentrism in a shared undertaking — is the ground it grows in.