by Grace Fox

Created on: March 08, 2009

There seems to be quite a bit of misunderstanding when it comes to the difference between positive reinforcement and praising mediocrity. Parents become confused when they are told not to crush their child's spirits, but to use positive reinforcement, while still encouraging their children to do as best as they can. This confusion comes from a faulty education system, and the common fear of ruining a child's self-esteem. It is possible to use positive reinforcement without allowing a child to be complacent, and without instilling in them the idea that they can do poorly and still achieve a goal.

In my first year as a teacher's aide, we had a student in our class who was difficult, to say the least. Before coming to our school, he had been expelled from three preschools. He came to our preschool, and the administration decided not to give up on him. He had improved greatly in the three years that he had been at the school, but there was still much work to be done. In first grade, he was prone to violent tantrums, purposefully wetting himself, spitting and hitting both children and teachers, and outright refusing to do his class work. We tried common discipline tactics, such as moving a pin from green to yellow to red to blue, to show where his behavior was. Green was good, yellow warranted a note home and a time out, red meant a call to his parents, and blue meant he was sent to the principal and his parents had to come to pick him up. This worked for a while, but eventually, he just didn't care anymore.

What finally worked for this student was positive reinforcement. We offered stickers at the end of the day when he had a whole day without moving his pin. We created a chart to show his progress, and his parents jumped on board to reward him at home (with ice cream or other little treats) when he had a whole week of good behavior. Those stickers, small as they were, made all the difference between a defiant, rebellious, sometimes dangerous child, and a sweet, loving, eager-to-learn child. Positive reinforcement worked with him, and it was done without comrpomising his abilities. He was still pushed to do his best, he did much better on tests when praised for his hard work, and I know he tried as hard as he could-even if he didn't get straight A's. Now, in third grade, he is able to control his outbursts much better, and he is thriving!

Praising mediocrity is done when a child's effort is ransomed for fear of hurtign their self esteem. When a child is told, "It's

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