The danger of using intimidation to teach is that children learn how to intimidate in return. They do not, however, sufficiently learn the concepts that are being forced upon them. If you bully thoughts into a child's head, you will likely end up with a child who either bullies others or retreats into reticence in a learning environment. Thoughts and ideas that are forced on people tend to inspire a negative reaction.

For instance, my uncle was forced to learn how to use his right hand instead of his left at the strict catholic school he attended as a child. The nuns would punish students first with writing lines, and then with a ruler across the palm for using their left hand. My uncle used to stress out horribly about school and get cramps and headaches when he had to go back after holidays. His academic performance was poor. This is a particularly extreme example, but similarly, any time a practice is forced on an individual, it will tend to shut down the thought process. Eventually, learning becomes correlated with oppression and unpleasantness.

When I taught as a Montessori preschool teacher, I learned that it went against Montessori principles to respond to good behavior with material reward. The idea was for a child to internalize good behavior, to do it for the good feelings it inspired in their self others. We would praise and make an example of good behavior, and try and give that child additional privileges and responsibilities when they exhibited positive skills. If they integrated positive approaches into their inner outlook, the behavior would carry forward even if adults weren't looking. If a child does something merely for a reward, they will stop the behavior when the impetus goes away. That is the problem with trying to control internal behavior through external pressures.

The same goes with intimidation. Trying to force learning in an environment of punishment and threats will not inspire any natural curiosity or sense of achievement for concepts mastered. This approach is instead guaranteed to nurture resentment and ill will in the students it is used upon.

Some fascinating studies have been done in regards to the nervous system's response to fear. In the presence of immediate threat, most people's judgment becomes greatly impaired and they make snap decisions based on purely sensory data. This is a survival response, developed over thousands of years probably to help human beings respond swiftly to predators on the savanna. When you have a teacher who bullies, you're putting your child in the same state of mind as stalked prey, and in this scenario they will always relate learning to the predator. This can have a devastating effect on any individual's desire to learn.

Learn more about this author, Alissa King.
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