Discipline has been the bastard child of education-a topic nobody wants to own. It has gone noticed but unattended. The word discipline seems to have a negative and bad meaning attached to it. Within this definition there is no mention of the word punishment. To achieve discipline, we as educators need to use behavioral reinforcers which can be either positive or negative.
Punishment falls within the category of negative reinforcers.
Positive reinforcers are those consequences of behavior that increase the probability of the behavior occurring again. Discipline is important for many reasons. First, parents and administrators expect classes to be well managed and students to behave well. Punishment has its pros and cons. One must also examine the context in which punishment is used.