Reply To: Children and Prizes–Hindering Intrinsic Self Worth

granted. but on the other hand…if you really want the old way…then lets give rebbis paddles…t5he point is, that as much as we would like things to stay the way they were, they will not and cannot. times change, and methods must be reconsidered. positive reinforcement is a very effective tool, rather than fear of reprisal. its the difference between serving hashem out of fear of burning in hell, and serving hashem for the reward of gan eden, and for the approval of hashem. a person living in fear is more likely to rebel. that being said, i am not advocating full latitude for students. there still has to be a strong presence of authority in the chinuch of children. its about striking a perfect balance. a rebbi should be friendly with his students in order to encourage a kesher, but at the same time making it clear that they are above their students in terms of respect and authority. in the old days students used to respect their rebbeim because they saw the greatness in them. today’s world is a much more indifferent world. and a much more “equal” world. today many students see it as “what makes you better than me??? after all im paying your salary!!!” because of this attitude, the methods of chinuch have had to change. it used o be if a rebbi hit a student he would feel bad about what he did and never do it again. today, he’d hit back, and call the cops. so in essence…all we HAVE today is positive reinforcement…