Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning isn't about controlling or managing behaviour but focusing rather on assisting children to become normal human beings.

This idea takes a critical look at schools and asks why a child's educational containment is so similar to their parents whether it be natural order or simply cultural capital.

There are four points to operant conditioning.

The first is the most effective concept for desired change and that is positive reinforcement. This concept adds something to the situation to get a desired change. Examples of this would be awarding a gold star to a child when they do something desired or marbles in a jar to get a pizza party or something alike.

The second is the negative reinforcement is one of the most difficult concepts because you have to take something away from the child to increase a certain behaviour. An example would be if a student recieves an 85% average on all unit exams they are excused from the final exam because of this achievement.

Thirdly is positive punishment where you add something to the scenerio to reduce behaviour frequently used. An example is giving that student detention or picking garbage.

The last and fourth ideal is negative punishment is to take away something to reduce behaviour. I think this is one of the most simple concepts for example it would be like taking away a students recess time.

These four concepts have a lot of potential and I know through my education I have seen all of them used. I'm not sure if those teachers were aware they were using a life long tool but there is a lot of truth in every aspect. They're not only applicable to educational processes but to everyday influences.