May 1958 — VOL. 39, NO. 5 — Discipline in Life
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ONE of the most important needs
of young people going out into the world from university and
high school is discipline.
We need to know about discipline because we simply cannot
get along with other people without it. By the lime we finish
our formal education we have become persons, with status in
a group entitling us to rights and imposing responsibilities.
Some acts are commanded or forbidden by the general opinion
of humanity. The discipline of law is the good man's defence
against the unjust actions of other men. Other areas in life
are governed by rules agreed upon so that people can work
and play together: the rigidity of the squares and the moves
in chess, the rules of a trade union, the by—laws of
a corporation, for example, and the regulation of traffic.
There are other activities in which discipline plays its
part. It was Cromwell's discipline of his army that broke
the cavaliers; it was Thomas Aquinas' personal discipline
that enabled him to write his magnificent summations of duty
and responsibility; it was the discipline of a great cause
that took the little ships to Dunkirk with nothing more to
guide them than directions scribbled on the back of an envelope.
We are troubled today because disciplines to which we became
accustomed through the ages are coming into conflict with
new customs in a changing society. This is a confused period,
when many people have lost or have thrown overboard the old
standards without acquiring new ones. We fear that we may
be shaken loose from our moorings in respect to marriage,
economics, politics, government, freedom, democracy and a
host of other things we have cherished.
This is happening in a time when we have achieved material
certainty such as we never before enjoyed. Her Majesty the
Queen said in her Christmas Day broadcast: "It is not the
new inventions which are the difficulty. The trouble is caused
by unthinking people who carelessly throw away ageless ideals
as if they were old and outworn machinery. They would have
religion thrown aside, morality in personal and public life
made meaningless, honesty counted as foolishness, and self—interest
set up in place of self—restraint."
Nature's discipline
Everyone who has studied mathematics, physics and chemistry
has learned about the systems and disciplines of nature. He
round that a leaf. a drop of water, a crystal, a moment of
time ( all these are related to and are part of the perfection
of the universe. Nature is a discipline. As Confucius put
it: "Order is heaven's only law."
What we admire as order and beauty in the final form of
any natural manifestation is the product of the measured discipline
of its development, like the ebb and flow of the rides, the
systole and diastole of our hearts. Without these disciplined
motions there would be no growth, no achievement, no thought,
nothing.
We must beware of thinking that discipline means fixity.
A wave pattern is pleasing by its rhythmic alternation of
dark and light, of high and low, but we know that every wave,
viewed at close range, will show differences that will never
recur in quite the same form. Nature is not so regimented
as to make no allowance for some degree of latitude for the
individual creatures within it.
One advantage of having life run along in good order or
pattern is because good order tends to get the most out of
things with the least labour. It is 2,300 years since an Athenian
writer gave as an example of disorder the actions of a farmer
who threw into his granary barley and wheat and peas together,
and then, when he wanted barley bread or wheaten bread or
pea soup, had to pick them grain by grain, instead of having
them separately laid up.
Discipline helps us to establish a pattern. Deep in us we
dislike chaos. When we succeed in forming a pattern, it becomes
familiar and comforting. By following it we find that we can
solve more problems with fewer false starts. We learn the
pleasure to be found in a symmetrical lire.
Social discipline
Like nature, society has its discipline, a sort of standardized
manner in which groups behave.
The discipline of society may be thought of as something
in which one must qualify if one is to become mature. Society
has certain common expectations, upon the basis of which people
are able to co—operate and regulate their activities.
It is obvious that society can continue to exist only under
certain conditions. New—comers, like young people who
leave adolescence behind them and step into the world "on
their own", must learn and carry on the techniques and rules
of the society. Just as in the class—room the students
act in expected ways and the teacher has a different kind
of activity, so in the wider environment different people
have different tasks but all must act within a discipline
that gives society an orderly form.
There are few fixed social levels in Canada. A person finds
his own place in the social structure according to his capacities
and energy. In striving toward his ideal he needs to keep
in mind that customs and laws are not obstacles to be crashed
through or hurdled or evaded. They are to be respected as
conditions of the vital functioning of society. They are conditions
of freedom, because the only alternative to the rule of law
is the tyranny of the strongest. Hendrik Van Loon said bluntly
that we obey the law because we know that respect for the
rights of others marks the difference between a dog—kennel
and civilized society.
Compulsion in social discipline gets its influence from
long acceptance of it by the majority of the people concerned,
but regulation by the Criminal Code has for the average
individual less significance than a host of the less formal
controls which surround him.
Sophisticated people are more influenced by custom than
they like to admit. They do not think of these customs as
being part of social discipline. Yet nine—tenths of what
we do in all our waking hours is done in unconscious conformity
with group habits, standards, codes, styles and sanctions
that were in existence long before we were born.
Self—discipline
In the turmoil of today, wrote Lord Beaverbrook in his book
Don't Trust to Luck, man "can only keep his judgment
intact, his nerves sound and his mind secure by the process
of self—discipline."
We go a long way toward maturity when we substitute inner
discipline for outer. Two men of different skills, more than
two thousand years apart in time, agreed on this. Socrates,
the Greek philosopher, taught self—discipline as the
first virtue, saying it is necessary to make the other virtues
avail, and Charles Darwin, author of On the Origin of Species,
declared "The highest stage in moral culture at which we can
arrive is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts."
It is not necessary to think of self—discipline as
something like self—punishment. We do not need to walk
through fire or sleep on nails as certain sects in the East
do; we don't need to go around with our noses in statute books
or treatises on ethics as certain reformers in the West do.
We see self—discipline in the boxer who halts his blow
in mid—air at the sound of the gong, in the office manager
who reflects before censuring a worker, in the mother who
refrains from punishing her child in the heat of anger.
The man who gives in to the enjoyment he finds in flying
off his control centre, who cannot discipline his own stormy
moods, will find opportunities for advancement eluding him.
He may be endowed with great ability and he may have developed
this by intensive study, so as to be capable of great things,
but he is like Napoleon, of whom Sir Walter Scott said: "the
wonderful being who could have governed the world, but could
not rule his own restless mind."
Minds which have the greatest natural power have most need
of training, just as the most mettlesome horses need schooling
to make them useful.
But, says someone, what about our liberty, in which we take
so much pride? Discipline is not antagonistic to liberty.
License of behaviour is not a proof of freedom. The test of
greatness of liberty is the extent to which we can be trusted
to obey self—imposed law.
It is not true that we have no choice except between lawless
exercise of private licence and the strait—jacket of
conformity, with no leeway for the exercise of responsible
judgment and the freedom of decision that goes with it. As
we found in discussing the disciplines of nature, life is
order, but order with tolerances.
Self—discipline means that we do not act according
to our likes and dislikes, but according to principles of
right and wrong. It gives us freedom within the law: responsible
freedom to move within an orbit as wide as, but no wider than,
what is in harmony with preservation of the overall order
on which survival and effective living depend.
Hence arises the virtue in moderation, the avoiding of extremes,
the putting of all things in their proper place. Ambitious
young people will show themselves worthy of the advantages
they enjoy by the moderation with which they use them.
Finding one's identity
Identification of one's self with established duties and
rights is part of the process by which a person attains social
personality.
The problem of duty may be summed up in this way: the worst
reason in the world for not doing something is that you don't
like to do it. The important question is: should you do it?
The person who follows only his likes and dislikes has not
grown up.
To help us find our way toward doing our duty, society has
evolved morals and conventions. These are traditional generalities
concerning right, wrong, duties, totems and taboos. Some have
been made formal in commandments and codes of ethics. They
lay hold of raw, uncultivated man and smooth his surface and
help him adjust to social living.
It is evident, then, that there are two sources of discipline:
one that is outside the person and another inside. Social
pressure is concerned with the regulation of conduct and manners;
the inner discipline urges us "to thine own self be true;
thou canst not then be false to any man."
Our personal standard is kept in line by conscience, which
may be thought of as the human mind applying the general principles
of good behaviour to individual actions. It is our personal
judgment on acts about to be performed.
There is a great area of life in which there are no "must"
signs, a place wherein we recognize the sway of duty, fairness,
sympathy, taste, and all the other things that make lire beautiful
and not just ordinary.
Lord Moulton described this area in a picturesque way. It
is, he said, the domain of obedience to the unenforceable;
the obedience of a man to that which he cannot be forced to
obey. It is no mere ideal, but is strong in the hearts of
all except the most depraved. In illustration, Lord Moulton
cites the sinking of the Titanic, when "the men were gentlemen
to the edge of death." Law did not require it. Force could
not have compelled it. The feeling of obedience to the unenforceable
was so strong at that moment that all behaved as, if they
could look back, they would wish to have behaved.
It may be a great part of the richness of our Western culture
that we have so many areas in life subject only to the urge
to do what is right and fitting, without compulsion. True
civilization may be measured by the extent of this land of
obedience to the unenforceable.
Family discipline
When we see someone away off the beam socially or personally
it may mean that he did not come up against the discipline
boundary line at a time when he could have learned without
hurt.
Since ages before history began to be written the hearth
has been the symbol of family life. The human emotions and
customs formed there are the most important and abiding features
of lire. In all the essential human traits the person is the
product of the family group and its mode of life.
Every parent knows that the natural tendency of children
is to do what they like and to avoid doing what they do not
like. The first everyday problem of every parent is to teach
his children to do the things they should do, whether they
like them or not, and to avoid doing the things they should
not do, even though they like to do them.
Discipline is necessary to daily life in the family, not
only for health and safety and tranquillity, but also to produce
the habits of social behaviour which avoid perpetual quarrelling.
Children must be taught certain fundamentals like respect
for other people's property and rights, and esteem for others
as individuals. They need to learn, if they are to fit happily
into society, to live within the law and to be honest and
wholesome.
Children owe duty and loyalty to their parents. E. W. Scripps,
the hard—headed newspaper publisher, declared flatly:
"There has never been a time when violation of the fifth commandment
has not produced a tragedy."
The truth is that children believe in parental discipline.
A survey of 96,000 high school pupils in 1,300 schools in
the United States revealed the clear—cut opinion that
parents should carefully restrict their teen—age sons
and daughters as to hours, frequency of dates, places of amusement,
choice of associates, smoking and drinking. In Canada, fully
three—quarters of the public think, according to a Canadian
Institute of Public Opinion poll, that home discipline is
not strong enough.
The responsibility of family nurture is not one that can
be passed on to other institutions. The school, the church,
and various societies have their proper functions, but no
institution can fill the place in education and discipline
that rightly belongs to the family.
Parents need standards. The secure child is the child who
comes to know what his parents stand for, and that, as Dr.
Henry C. Link writes in The Way to Security, they cannot
be shaken from these standards by arguing or wheedling. Where
the parents are sure of their principles, the child will be
sure of his parents.
There are two main road blocks in the way of realizing perfect
parenthood. Many parents in this scientific age have lost
the convictions of their grandparents and have not been able
to replace them with a set of their own; others are trying
to lire out their own frustrated wishes through their children.
Discipline in school
Good discipline in school requires that we establish and
maintain wholesome conditions for learning.
Teachers cannot be expected to transform children who are
spoiled at home into orderly, well—balanced human beings.
The school can impose no stronger discipline than the parents
exercise or will support. "How can you work with a youngster
in school," asks an article in The Educational Record,
"if he hears at home that the school is no good, the teacher
doesn't know what she's talking about, and the principal had
better watch his step?"
Discipline is needed in school, not only for the better
management of classes and study, but also because of its value
as a habit in later life. We all have to meet standards in
adult life; it will be easier to do so if we learn to toe
the mark during school—days.
Some teachers try to be "pals" to their pupils, but the
children have friends their own age and look to the teacher
for something different: leadership. That leadership needs
to be positive. It does not demand an assault upon the child's
will, but it means persuading his will to desire the right
things. The principles implanted through school discipline
will be based upon pleasure in growth and achievement, not
upon extremes of repression or leniency.
In office and factory
Like every other activity, business is carried on in a complicated
social setting where habits, customs, conventions and laws
blend together to determine daily procedure. The office and
the factory must have discipline, and giving force to that
discipline is the responsibility of management.
Workers must pull together if their group effort is to be
effective. Every person must do his fait share of the work,
contribute to order and efficiency, and be considerate of
the feelings of his fellow—workers.
The duty of maintaining discipline is one of the hardest
functions to get foremen and managers to discharge. Discipline
is not so simple today as it was a half century ago. Then
it was mostly a matter of imposing the will of the boss by
main force of voice, fists and the threat of dismissal. Today,
leadership of the human type is gaining ground rapidly. It
requires knowledge, tact and integrity. The foreman who wins
the respect of his workers has practically solved the problem
of department discipline; he has secured their willing co—operation.
The ideal sort of discipline is not gained by posting rules
and regulations on a notice—board. The more rules a manager
imposes upon his men, the more he raises their resentment
because of the implication that they are incapable of self—direction.
But a certain minimum of regulation is necessary to efficiency,
safety and smooth operation.
Consistency
Whether in the family, school or factory, consistency in
discipline is vitally necessary. Rules that only threaten,
and are not enforced, are like the log that was given to the
frogs to be their king. At first they feared it, but soon
scorned and trampled on it.
Consistency starts with clarity. Let your rules be clear.
Tell the reasons on which they are based. Announce who is
responsible for their enforcement.
The rules being made known, it is unfair to the working
force to allow one or two persons so to conduct themselves
as to hinder the efforts of the rest of the group. Leniency
is cruel, not only to the group as a whole but to the offender.
He who has been forgiven a hundred times learns to believe
that he has no real faults to be forgiven.
Be consistent, too, in enforcing rules even when infraction
of them has not resulted in material damage. Historians tell
us instances from the long—ago past, three of which will
illustrate the point. In war, the Romans inflicted punishment
more often on soldiers who attacked contrary to orders than
on men who had abandoned their posts when pressed by the enemy;
a Greek general was awarded a garland for his victory, but
fined a thousand drachmas for going out to battle personally
unarmed; a ruler enacted a law that no one might possess over
500 acres of land, and was punished according to his own law
when it was found that he owned more.
Self—respect
Our reward for self—discipline and the acceptance of
social responsibility is not necessarily money or power, but
self—respect and the respect of others. To have control
centred in us does, at the very least, preserve us from being
dragged through lire like slaves.
If a man is not the sort to seize upon discipline as something
contributing mightily to his life happiness—a constructive
force, a protective force ( then he just must bear with it,
for he cannot escape it.
It is better to make discipline something that will help
us to get what we want out of life than to be driven into
accepting it as a pitiless force.
Discipline has a happiness value. It will not save us from
having to make choices, and therefore of sometimes making
mistakes, but it will help us to assess the chances and choose
more wisely. Quite often we shall find that the stern thing
which discipline orders is the wisest, the best, thing.
Published by RBC Financial Group. All editions from the RBC
Letter collection are available on our web site at www.rbc.com/responsibility/letter.
Our e-mail address is: rbcletter@rbc.com.
Publié aussi en francais.
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