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An incident I experienced at school today spurred me to write this note on the causes of childhood misbehavior. Have you ever wondered why children misbehave in school?
Child psychiatrist and educator, Rudolf Dreikurs proposed that children believe they can gain social status by exhibiting bad behavior. Here are some answers that may help you recognize and address the root
of these problems. Students' misbehavior has 4 goals--Attention, Power,
Revenge & Avoidance of Failure. Students of any age may engage in activities that distract from the classroom goal of learning in order to gain attention from peers or superiors that they feel is lacking in their personal life. For some students ANY attention is craved whether it is positive or negative. As long as they are the center of attention, they are happy. How many adults do you know that are like this?
Power is another goal of misbehavior. Power or influence over peers may be gained through intimidation, peer pressure, coercion or other negatively narcissistic methods serves to fulfill some individuals' needs for influence over others. These folks want to be leaders without putting in the hard work of establishing personal relationships or leading by example.
Revenge is the third goal of misbehavior. Someone may have done something to offend this person, so the response whether immediate or delayed is to start a rumor to discredit the offender or engage in physical or verbal altercation to prove who the boss is.
Avoidance of failure is the final goal of misbehavior. Many students haven't a clue what's going on during class and feel they need to mask their ignorance by acting out. As the old saying goes, "An empty bucket makes the most noise."
