SHOULD WE PUNISH LAZY STUDENTS?

(This article has been published in the September 2018 issue of Pallikkuttam magazine, Rajagiri.)

Laziness is not a crime. It is not undesirable just as it is not desirable. Gone are the days when laziness was viewed as a negative behavioral characteristic and was sough to be ‘eliminated’ through punishment or negative reinforcement. Theoretical as well as scientific stances deem laziness as a trait. In other words, the influence of the laziness on the individual takes place, more or less, in an involuntary fashion.

For this reason, any diagnosis of laziness needs meticulous attention. Diagnosing laziness for its causes must begin from a multidimensional perspective. One line of diagnosis need not fit for all. Interventions for laziness planned by teachers and parents must be based on the right kind of diagnosis for the causes. See various angles from which laziness can be viewed through.

Pleasure principle and laziness:

Fundamentally all human beings are pleasure seekers. Seeking pleasure is like a compulsion in the initial phase of growth. In the parlance of Freudian theory1 until the id—the unconscious realm of human mind--- gets adequate training to delay gratification, human intellect blindly succumbs to the untamed cravings of the mind and indulge in various pleasures and gleefully neglect various demands from reality. Student laziness often manifested as excessive enthusiasm for pleasure promising events like---watching TV, peering, outing--- at the cost of diligent learning, reveals a mind which has failed to strike a right kind of balance between the impulses of id and ego. 

All are wired to be cognitive misers2:

Laziness manifested as the inability to invest enduring effort on important tasks mainly stems from cognitive miserliness. The default mode of a human brain is to conserve energy. All are predisposed to grab the easiest method when it comes to cognition. The widespread predisposition of students for quick fixes in many learning situations is not their fault. They are wired to be so. Even after the most exciting classroom activities say in addition and subtraction, a student may prefer a calculator to any manual attempt while doing math homework where there is no teacher to monitor him.

A matured learner is one who has the capacity to persevere for long-term goals. An un-matured learner or a beginner in learning has that nomadic brain which is hell-bent on short-term goals and excitement derived from immediate gratification. The success of teaching lies in getting students interested in the act of consumption of cognitive energy by priming on the benefits gained from it. And this is not an easy task.

Dopamine is to be blamed:

How many of our teachers and parents who blame children for their laziness know about this brain chemical called dopamine? Science repeatedly affirms that the leniency and lethargy you notice in your children is because the brain chemical dopamine3 is at work. Then what is the role of punishments and negative reinforcements in warding off laziness and behavior molding? Dopamine does different things in different areas of the brain. The level of dopamine in certain regions of the brain can predict whether a student can be a disciplined learner or an easygoing, lazy, procrastinator on a particular day or on a particular task.

Studies show that a high level of dopamine in anterior insula reduces the willingness to work hard. Meanwhile, individuals with high levels of dopamine in the striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (known for reward-and motivation mechanism) were always willing to work hard and responsible in their tasks to which they were committed. Though science has not evolved to pinpoint teaching strategies that will regulate dopamine spreading in the brains of prospective learners in a favorable manner, teachers and parents can acknowledge and keep in their mind the ineluctable role of dopamine in learning and motivation. As we speak, the strategies for dopamine regulation are unfolding in the field of neuroscience research and teachers can keep a tab on them.

Genetics too can make you lazy:

Yes think a minute. Parents, were you lazy in your school days? Or are you predisposed to avoid effortful ways of executing day-to-day tasks? Do you hate trying something new? Or resentful of experimenting with something new? Are you reluctant to adopt long-term commitments? And loathe tasks that need meticulous, sustained attention for a long time? If your answers are mostly in the affirmative, there is a higher possibility for your son or daughter to be lazy.

Laziness as a trait can be in genes. AsapScience likes to call it "couch potato genes" and its scientific name is SLC35D34. This doesn’t mean carriers of these genes are doomed to be lifelong sloth-lovers. Gene-environment interaction is a proved phenomenon. Genes can influence as well as can be influenced by the environment. So genes are not adamant but flexible and docile. An appropriate environment saturated with motivating elements to keep oneself active will definitely keep these genes dormant.

Lazy teaching creates laziness:

Laziness is a word that never dares to sit near the word “teaching”. Still, when the teaching occurs within the rigid frontiers of “knowledge transfer” from the textbook to the human brains without paying any heed to learner’s motivation, it is lazy teaching itself. Teaching that is not at all interested in captivating student’s attention is a lazy teaching. Teaching that is hardly curious about evaluating how much learning has taken place is also lazy teaching. Equally any form of teaching that does not keep a tab on student’s emotional state is also lazy teaching.  Such teaching has the power to germinate disinterest and laziness in learner’s mind.

A synergy between two aspects of student life namely, social-emotional-intellectual life and educational life should be the fundamental aim of all teaching activities. Any teaching activity which overlooks this is a lazy teaching. Such “mechanical” teaching needless to say, fuels student laziness.

Wrong parenting-- a hotbed for laziness:

Parenting being a basic instinct is, however, less likely to err. But the latest research findings in parenting likes to address parenting as a science rather than an instinctual force. So, rearing children is an act that must be supported by scientific facts. And the contemporary theory seeks to train parents in “optimal parenting practices”. 

Misplaced parental aspirations, expectations, and beliefs can stand in the way not only of academic growth but the socio-emotional development of children as well. Lack of motivation or laziness can be a symptom of psychological distress experienced by the child which has its root in the anomalies extant in parenting/home environment.

Other factors:

Mental health issues like anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem can trigger or sustain laziness. Similarly, as with poor diet and sleep, lack of proper planning of goals to be attained and  fear of failure may also cause students to lose interest in studies and go astray. 

Final word

Laziness is curable when the exact cause is identified. Laziness in students should not be treated as a sin. On the contrary, it must be treated as a force operating in all human beings which must be tamed in order to accomplish a certain level of growth and development in all walks of life. Laziness is not a trait that can be or should be eliminated completely. But it is a trait which must be wielded. See what the famous workaholic Bill Gate said about laziness.

"I will always find a lazy person to do the job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” – Bill Gates

Any intervention designed to liberate students from the clutches of laziness must aim at equipping them to deal with the laziness within. For this, mentors must be ready to follow a sequence of steps including making the young learners aware of their laziness, identifying the reasons behind laziness, discussing the necessity of controlling the it and so on.

            The action plan should be a joint effort of both the mentor and the student. A combined decision-making process should precede the terms and conditions agreed upon for building up the requisite level of commitment to the action plan.

Finally, the implementation of the plan should be accompanied by unfailing periodic evaluation. As for any intervention aimed at behavioral changes, a concerted, sustained but an empathetic effort from parents and teachers is needed to save the student from laziness. 

References

1. Sigmund Freud (1920) Beyond the Pleasure Principle

2. Stanovich, Keith E. (2011). "The cognitive miser and focal bias". Rationality and the reflective mind. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 65–71. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341140.003.0004. ISBN 9780195341140. OCLC 648932780.

3. Jennifer Welsh (2012) Slacker or Go-Getter? Brain Chemical May Tell. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/02/slacker-dopamine-go-getter-brain-chemical_n_1470782.html

4. Lizette Borreli (2014) The Science Of Laziness: 'Couch Potato' Gene Influences Your Physical Activity Level