Punishment should be like an active vaccine in its administration. A vaccine aims to provide the body immunity or protection from a disease, infection or poison. The vaccine provokes the body to a state of preparedness. Even though the knowledge of mobilizing the antibodies is always present it requires a provocation by modelling the disease. Punishment as a vaccine builds up active immunity in the child to fight the tendency of taking short cuts to overcome the vagaries of life.
Punishments help in building concepts like rewards, pleasure, and pain.
2.2 Need for reflection Great thinkers like St. Ignatius, who has formulated the Ignation pedagogy, have strongly urged the need for reflection in the process of learning. If, we are concerned that a child learns from her mistakes, then the opportunity for reflection should be ingrained in the punishment. If the punishment is so strong that it generates emotions like hatred, revenge or confusion it also requires time and space for these emotions to be dissipated. To achieve this we now know that we need counselors and teachers with good counseling skills. There is a definite lack of guidelines to people in positions of authority.