How to be Discipline Better Than Anyone Else

Importance of Discipline      

    Discipline implies the subordination of one's personal will to the control of some external authority. It may be the authority of an individual directly, or as embodied in rules and regulations. It is essential wherever many have to live or work together in a collective or co-operative manner, for in the absence of control it will lead to confusion or anarchy. In educational institutions, it is more than ever necessary, for young people are by nature gifted with high spirits which make them self-assertive, wilful, and impatient of restraints. 

Unless their natural ebullience is held in some sort of check, their minds cannot be canalized to any purposeful ends. In such a state they may be easily led astray or be a hindrance to others. Hence every institution must have a minimum set of rules and directions. 

          They are meant to fix the hours of work and play, the habits of conduct and behavior, and the ways of doing things in the discharge of their duties. The ultimate aim is to instill into their minds this unalterable maxim: Each is for all, and no one for oneself. In other words, the individual must sacrifice his personal will to the demands of corporate life.

Image of road-crossing

              But it is wrong to regard discipline from a negative standpoint as it is very often done. Discipline is not an affair of mere denial of personal freedom, for freedom is too valuable an asset-- particularly for the healthy growth of youthful minds-- to be dealt with in this cavalier fashion. The object of discipline is not a denial of freedom but its proper direction and regulation. An 'unchartered freedom' is apt to become wasteful and dangerous. The proper attitude should be to enforce the observance of rules so that the individual's caprices may not interfere with the work of others in any way. 

           Rowdyism in the college corridors or quadrangle, disturbances in the classroom, refusal to abide by the rules of the library, disobedience of constituted authority-- these are hostile to serious work without in any way being helpful to the healthy spirit of freedom-- or necessary for the growth of an individual. 

           Hence whatever orders are issued or rules are prescribed to eliminate these undesirable expressions of individual intransigence must be respected voluntarily. If they are not, they have to be enforced by authority and any punitive action necessary for this purpose is wholly justified. What discipline does not imply is to farce the mind into fixed grooves or patterns of thinking; here freedom has to be encouraged so that the mind can play around a subject with a happy felicity.

The need for discipline

                True discipline is a creative process. Its ultimate objective is not merely to liberate the mind but to liberalize it. By voluntarily accepting a prescribed code of conduct, one becomes so habituated to think and act that one unconsciously develops a proper attitude to life-- that it is not enough for one to be conscious of one's rights, but one must at the same time be conscious of one's duties. 

        Hence enforcement of discipline must be accompanied by a recognition of its proper end; this is not only to act as a check on the erring but also to be an intelligent guide to correct conduct. The student involved must be persuaded to see that he can not exercise any right himself unless he is at the same time conscious of his duties to others, In a corporate society it will be necessary to subordinate his rights in the discharge of his duties. Once this realization develops, the acceptance of discipline becomes easy and voluntary. 

          What was at first grudgingly yielded to compulsion will now be gladly accepted is a wholesome spirit of co-operation. This is what is meant when it is said that discipline is an educational process, and it aims to make one act properly out of a spontaneous consciousness of one's duties and obligations to others. No discipline is worthwhile unless it can serve this purpose.

            Hence discipline is to be regarded not as an end but as a means to an end. Where discipline is looked upon as an end, it is likely to achieve the dead monotony of lifeless habit, where initiative is discouraged, originality is stifled and mechanical conformity to ceratin codified direction is the be-all and the end-all of life. 

                

             It ensures peace, it is the peace of death. But true discipline is the voluntary acceptance of authority to avoid wastage of energy and to contribute one's energy to the growth of corporate life. One accepts restraints to enjoy freedom. One who obeys orders is alone fitted to command others. Discipline is this the way to the nobler conception of life and its duties.