The best way to teach is to praise positive actions and ignore negative ones

Educators around the world have been searching for the most effective way of teaching children. They presented various modes of education, among which are advocating positive actions and punishing negative ones. The given prompt states that the optimal way of teaching is to praise positive actions and ignore negative ones. However, I mostly agree with the idea that this mode of teaching is most effective for two reasons, despite some anticipated side effects.

First of all, praising positive actions can enhance the motivation of children to sustain good behaviors. Specifically, advocating good actions may form a positive feedback loop, which induces children to form good habits. For instance, suppose a child helped his or her parents clean the house. If the child receives some praise for that action – cleaning the house with their parents – he or she is more likely to repeat that action due to the elevated motivation and positive memory or experience. This example presents that praising good demeanors may motivate children to form good habits. If these instances are accumulated for a long time, children are more likely to live up to one’s probity and less likely to cause social misconduct in the future.

Secondly, other than motivating children to form and keep good habits, the above method of teaching can help children increase independence – less depending on their parents – and enhance the ability to make self-judgment. To be specific, when children receive praise for their good actions and are ignored for their negative actions, they are likely to think about what they should do and what they should refrain from. Instead of passively following their parents’ or teachers’ orders, they are given some freedom to think by themselves about how to act properly. For example, suppose a child finished his homework on time, and his mother praised him for that action. In this situation, he realizes that finishing homework on time is a desirable deed and is likely to sustain that behavior by himself – with no or little parental intervention. On the other hand, if the child received no praise from his parents for eating more than two cookies a day, he is likely to think that this action should not be done in the future, as his parents did not praise that deed, or rather scolded that action. These examples show that praising children for positive actions and ignoring negative ones enhance the children’s ability to actively reflect on their behaviors and actions. Eventually, this helps them raise their independence and the capability to make autonomous judgments.

However, although the above mode of education produces mostly positive effects on children, it may mislead them to increase misconduct. Specifically, if children receive no correction for their behaviors, they are likely to continue those misconducts; merely ignoring negative actions may be detrimental to pedagogy. For instance, if a child eats glue in a house and parents do not point out that eating glue is bad, she is likely to keep eating glue since she thinks that there is no problem with that action. This example demonstrates that some level of sanction is necessary to rectify the negative behaviors of children, rather than ignoring them.

In conclusion, praising children for their positive actions and ignoring negative actions can motivate them to keep doing those good deeds and can help raise their independence and act by themselves. For these reasons, this method of teaching can be regarded as the best way of teaching children. However, this claim has its own peril. Ignoring negative actions is not likely to correct children’s misconduct, and some level of sanction is needed for the misbehavior in order for them to refrain from sustaining negative actions. Consequently, promoting positive actions and punishing – rather than ignoring - negative ones is the best way of teaching children.