The Seven Habits as a Discipline Policy: Positive or Negative

W. A. Porter adopted the seven habits as the campus-wide discipline philosophy. Instead of rules such as “Don’t do that” or “Don’t do this”, the seven habits are used as guidelines for behavior. A child is never told, “You were not being proactive.” Instead they are asked after a discussion of the behavior, “In the future, if you were in the same situation, what habit could you use to make this situation turn out differently?” Using the seven habits in this way has made a positive impact on the students and their behaviors, as well as decreasing the number of disciple referrals.

After our meeting together on Monday morning and debriefing in the afternoon with the various groups, there was discussion about whether using the seven habits as the discipline philosophy was positive or negative. Any thoughts on this topic?