Question 107

Questions:

I’ve got a student whose frequent behavior is slamming books on desks, disrupting other students, giving dirty looks, and calling me a dirty bitch—suggestions please?

I’ve got a student who is arrogant, constantly instigating problems, copies home work, cheats on tests, coerces others to get her way, and appears to have stolen money during a lab assignment

Answers:

I will answer both of your questions the same way. You tell me what the student does, but not what do you do–how do you handle it. Any form of punishment will only intensify the behavior. I don’t know for sure whether the student or students of which you speak are behaving from the mistaken goal of power or revenge, but I do know they are discouraged students. Don’t worry, I’m not advocating permissiveness.

In all of our books, we talk about understanding the belief behind the behavior. You will not have significant, positive results until you understand and deal with the belief. In other words, I advocate perception modification, not behavior modification.