Discipline for Smart People    

In the 1990’s, the Juran Institute produced a video series on the subject of quality. One of them describes a problem with the Jefferson Memorial: the granite was crumbling. What was frustrating to the national park officials was that none of the other memorials were having this same problem with their granite. So the question was “Why?”

Question: Why is the granite crumbling on the Jefferson Memorial?
Answer: It is hosed off more than the other memorials.

Question: Why is the Jefferson Memorial hosed off more than the other D.C. memorials?
Answer: The Jefferson Memorial has more bird dung.

Question: Why does the Jefferson Memorial have more bird dung than the other memorials?
Answer: It has more birds.

Question: Why does the Jefferson Memorial have more birds?
Answer: It has more spiders for the birds to eat.

Question: Why does the Jefferson Memorial have more spiders
than other D.C. memorials?
Answer: It has more flying insects for spiders to eat.

Question: Why does the Jefferson Memorial have more flying insects than other D.C. memorials?
Answer: The lights are turned on too soon at the Jefferson Memorial, thus attracting the insects.

Solution: The lights were turned on later and the granite stopped crumbling.

By asking “Why?” enough times, usually at least five, one can find the root causes of problems.

—Lee Jenkins. “Permission to Forget and Nine Other Root Causes of America’s Frustration with Education.” Milwaukee: Quality Press, 2005.

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Posted In: Promoting Learning On: April 30, 2008: 2:50 pm: By Marvin Marshall

I purchased a mobile phone that has a place for an opening message. I inserted, “smile.” Now each time I open my cell phone, I see that message.

A smile is a small gesture with a powerful impact. In American culture, we’ve come to expect people to smile when we meet them.

The late pianist/comedian Victor Borge put it another way when he described a smile as “the shortest distance between two people.” Greeting someone with a warm smile is the best way to introduce yourself, and it sets the stage beautifully for any discussion that follows.

Check your smile in the mirror. As you step toward it—before you see yourself—smile. Then look at yourself. Is it really a happy smile or a forced smile? Are your eyes smiling? That’s the test of a real smile.

Greeting others with a smile is the easiest approach to start anything with a positive note.

More information on this topic is available at http://www.marvinmarshall.com.

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Posted In: Improving Relationships On: April 29, 2008: 7:22 am: By Marvin Marshall

One of the fundamental truths I remember from my graduate studies in economics is the concept of opportunity costs. This means there is a cost to everything—be it in monetary terms, in time, in relationships—really in anything.

The Nobel Laureate, Milton Freedman, summarized economics with the same idea: “There is no such thing as a free lunch.”

Here is a challenge. For the next week, ask yourself the following question before taking any action: “WHAT PRICE WILL I BE PAYING?”

Situations can include:
Going to bed late
Going to bed early

Arising late
Arising early

Watching TV
Reading a book

Eating that second piece of pie
Not tempting the taste by not eating the first piece

Demanding something
Asking for something

Ignoring my mate or child when entering a room
Smiling when someone enters the room

The benefit of reflecting on the question, “WHAT PRICE WILL I BE PAYING?” is that you will have a tendency to perform that which is in your best interests.

Basically, this amounts to the fact that you have the freedom to pay the price. Just become aware of the price you are paying.

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Posted In: Increasing Effectiveness On: April 28, 2008: 7:50 am: By Marvin Marshall

An 80-year-old woman was unable to find a cab to take her home. She walked into a pizza parlor and said, “I’d like to order a pepperoni pizza delivered…and I’d like to go with it.”

People say about the aging process that it critical to retain our humor as we grow older. The reason is that, as we grow, our character traits become more ingrained. In fact, they become even more pronounced. A sweet person becomes sweeter. A disagreeable person becomes a real crank in old age.

Therefore, the attitudes and traits we are planting now will take root and become rigid habits later in life. So it’s important to make a commitment to live a daily life of good cheer, optimism, and gratitude. Whatever choices that are made today may serve us well later in life.

Plant happy seeds and enjoy today—and many, many tomorrows.

More information on this topic is available at http://www.marvinmarshall.com.

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Posted In: Increasing Effectiveness On: April 25, 2008: 7:52 am: By Marvin Marshall

Recently during my flight to present “How to Deal with Difficult Students,” an airline attendant asked me if my name was Marvin Marshall.

Since I was not wearing a name tag, I inquired of Janet (not her real name) how she knew who I was. She whispered to me that she is leaving the airline industry to enter teaching. She said that she is reading my book for the SECOND time before lending the book to her sister who is having a challenging time with her two children.

I inquired how she found out about the book. She said that one of her professors at the university she is attending mentioned that the book was one of his favorites. She bought “Discipline without Stress” because she thought it would be the most beneficial.

Reading a book a second time reminds me of an old story that exemplifies the point I am going to make.

Two woodcutters were engaged in a four-hour woodcutting contest. They cut wood in front of each other and an audience of eager onlookers. One woodcutter took a 10-minute break each hour while the other did not stop. At the end of the competition, the woodcutter who took the breaks had cut much more wood. The other woodcutter was shocked. “How could this be?” he asked. The other woodcutter replied, “Maybe it’s because I sharpened my axe each hour.”

Stephen Covey’s seventh habit of highly successful people is, “Sharpen the Saw.” It means refresh. In this case it refers to revisiting what you have already learned. Because, as the axe gets dull with use, the human mind cannot remember all that it learned. Just as the brain and the body require sleep, so does learning need to be refreshed.

Have you ever seen a motion picture more than once? Didn’t you pick up something on the second viewing that you did not notice or remember from your first viewing. Didn’t the whole become clearer after revisiting the various scenes?

Have you ever read a book twice—expanding your learning the second time?

Whenever I listen to an audiocassette or a compact disk that is worth hearing, I inevitably listen to it a second time. This practice reinforces what I have learned. Oftentimes, I pick up points that I didn’t fully retain during the first listening.

Janet is not the first person who told me she has read the book more than once. It’s simply impossible to grasp, remember, and implement all the strategies in one reading.

Sharpening the saw is surely a habit of highly successful people.

More information on this topic is available at http://www.marvinmarshall.com.

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Posted In: Increasing Effectiveness On: April 24, 2008: 8:36 am: By Marvin Marshall

Jim Collins’ book, “GOOD TO GREAT: WHY SOME COMPANIES MAKE THE LEAP AND OTHERS DON’T,” is a very popular book on leadership. I heard him interviewed, and I quote his final thought regarding leadership as applied to schools.

“You can take away blackboards, you can take away the computers, you can take away the administration, and you can take away the building. You can take away everything. It all happens in that magical intersection of a wonderful teacher and a student. And when you get that happening SYSTEMATICALLY, that is ultimately what really turns the wheel.”

With this in mind, I share a letter I received:

———–

Dear Dr. Marshall:

This letter is a follow-up to your presentation for our staff at McFadden Intermediate School. In that workshop, you introduced our staff to the “Discipline Without Stress” system. Whether the people who use it call it a system, a method, or a philosophy is not nearly as important as what happens when an entire school embraces it, teaches it. By using your methodology school-wide, we have transformed our school. Thank you seems inadequate, yet it is a sincere thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, that you deserve.

After your presentation, we decided to devote the first four days of the new school year to teaching the levels of development to each and every student in our school. Dr. Marshall, we have a different school this year! Our office referrals have been cut by more than half from the year before. Students look each other in the eye, look the adults in the eye, and sincerely ask how the day is going. When problems occur in the classroom, each and every student knows the levels of development and are able to articulate exactly where things have gone awry and what they are doing to correct the inappropriate behavior. One of our teachers questioned how we were able to ever operate without your approach. I wholeheartedly agree. The climate at McFadden is positive, a climate of mutual respect, a climate of togetherness and cooperation rather than “us” versus “them.”

There is no doubt in our minds that you are, indeed, an expert in your field, and one who has been truly instrumental in helping our whole school concentrate on the art of teaching rather than the art of keeping order. We are forever grateful to you for your insight into adolescent and adult minds, for helping us change negatives to positives, and for helping us to renew our dedication to teach. You are a wonder!

If you have an opportunity, please feel free to drop by the school and walk the halls with me. I think you will like the way we have implemented “Discipline Without Stress” in a very short amount of time. Wow!

Sincerely,

Esther Severy
Principal

———–

I visited the school shortly after receiving the letter and marveled at how 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students walked the halls so orderly and quietly. When the tardy bell rang, the halls were empty. Every student was in class. Mrs. Severy commented that this never happened before implementing Discipline Without Stress.

If you have contact with middle schools or parents of middle school students, please take a moment and share this communication with them.

———-

You can see Esther speak about her experiences by visiting http://www.marvinmarshall.com.

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Posted In: Discipline without Stress On: April 23, 2008: 9:05 am: By Marvin Marshall

The following is from a post on the mailring:

“I am always working on thinking about, ‘What can I do to change a procedure to make it work better, and what did I do/not do that led to things not running smoothly?

“Monday my principal stopped me in the hall on my way out the door and said, ‘I never see your kids.’

“At first I didn’t know what he meant. Then he said, ‘I never see any of your kids in my office. I just want to know what you do, and what your philosophy is because I know you have to be doing something different.’ (He knows I definitely didn’t get the ‘easy class,’ either!)

“I was so happy to be able to tell him all about Marvin Marshall’s book and system! He may not be really open to the ideas now. LIKE ALL THE PRINCIPALS I’VE EVER HAD, HE THINKS COMPETITIONS AND REWARDS ARE THE WAYS TO ‘MOTIVATE’ but he is very impressed with the results in my room. And now I feel like I’ve cracked open the door and gotten one toe in!”

More information on this topic is available at http://www.marvinmarshall.com.

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Posted In: Discipline without Stress On: April 21, 2008: 7:51 am: By Marvin Marshall

Many articles are being written about the high school drop out rate. Recently one appeared about the drop out rate in the Los Angeles City high schools.

I am somewhat familiar with the high school scene in Los Angeles having taught at two of them (one in an African-American neighborhood and the other in a Latino neighborhood)—as well as having served in the district as a high school demonstration teacher, department chair, instructional coordinator, counselor, and athletic director—plus having used nine of their high schools for my dissertation.

Two parts from the article give an indication of the philosophy of the high school reported on—and neither is unique to Los Angeles.

The first: “Seniors looked for their names posted on a bulletin board. If a student was NOT listed, the student earned the right to walk across the stage to get his/her diploma.” (Capitals added)

Doesn’t it strike someone that posting the names of students who were SUCCESSFUL in meeting all graduation requirements—rather than embarrassing those who did not—would be more dignified to these young adults and reflect more wisdom on the part of the school?

The second: “20-30 kids are constantly out of class. When these students are caught, they receive $250 tickets that require them to appear in court with a parent. About 200 were given out during the last school year. And students still roam,” stated the article, which continued:

“The school has since instituted a new system of taking attendance each period, rather than once a day, and is developing a new discipline system to punish truants. Since the attendance system went into effect November 6, students have skipped more than 2,000 classes.”

Shouldn’t it be obvious that heaping negativity on more negativity to solve this problem would not work? Apparently not, since such practices continue.

The essence of Jean Piaget’s hierarchy of cognitive development has been lost: Young people THINK AS YOUNG PEOPLE THINK (not as adults think) but THEY FEEL THE SAME WAY ADULTS FEEL. Unfortunately, too many adults practice the opposite. They think young people think like adults and feel like young people.

Deprivation of dignity is felt—regardless of age.

More information on this topic is available at http://www.marvinmarshall.com.

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Posted In: Promoting Learning On: April 18, 2008: 8:34 am: By Marvin Marshall

Using the word, “not,”rather than the word, “no,” such as “Not now” or “Not this
time” prompts fewer negative feelings than the hearing the absoluteness of “No!”

I received the following e-mail, which reminded me how creative and independent even very young people can be.

“You reminded my of a time when my son, Adam, was two. Every thing was No, No, No! My husband had just had it with him and said, ‘Adam, don’t you say No to me again; I’ve had enough, young man.’ Adam looked at him, full of steam and said, ‘NO’!

“I couldn’t help but start laughing. You are right. ‘Not’ doesn’t have the same effect as ‘No.’”

Thanks for bringing that back to mind.

(Note: I wonder who modeled “No” in the first place!)

More information on this topic is available at http://www.marvinmarshall.com.

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Posted In: Improving Relationships On: April 17, 2008: 8:07 am: By Marvin Marshall

Remove barriers to achieve goals—rather than pressure people to achieve them.

When leaders are not happy with people who report to them, there is a tendency to add pressure.

Instead of adding pressure, a more successful approach is to ask what are the barriers that are keeping people from doing their best.

We may not be able to remove government and other imposed barriers. However, we can inquire what is within our control that may be hampering others from doing their best.

Leaders, teachers, and parents can use the same approach with young people by asking, “What can I can do to remove barriers preventing you from doing your best?

More information on this topic is available at http://www.marvinmarshall.com.

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Posted In: Increasing Effectiveness On: April 16, 2008: 11:59 am: By Marvin Marshall