While children have a legitimate right to freedom and autonomy, this is necessarily limited by the authority of the teacher to discipline and punish.
Children have a legitimate right to freedom and autonomy. However, these are not rights that children intuitively understand and know how to exercise. Nor do they develop naturally as the child matures. Instead they must be taught and learned. Children must be guided and educated into an understanding and appreciation of what it means to be both free and autonomous individuals within a given society. In order for this to occur, both autonomy and freedom must prevail within the classroom. Only in such an environment can children safely practise what it means to be free and autonomous individuals and learn how to responsibly exercise these rights.
It is, perhaps, somewhat of a paradox that at the heart of both freedom and autonomy lie control and restraint. Children need to first learn these virtues in order to become free and autonomous individuals who are able to responsibly function within society and take full advantage of the opportunities available to them. In order for this to happen restraints may well be necessary. Teachers must have a degree of authority over children in order to educate them to exercise their freedom and autonomy responsibly. If the teacher’s authority is questioned or not respected, then the child’s successful transition into a responsible, autonomous adult may be compromised.
To maintain a sense of order in the classroom rules need to be established and followed, and standards enforced. Discipline is a positive method of enforcing standards and teaching self-control, confidence, and responsibility. Positive discipline reinforces what is acceptable and what is not. The focus is on what children are expected and allowed to do and includes catching children being good and encouraging