[email protected]

In a message dated 10/27/00 10:29:22 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:

<< People who follow the Categorial Imperative do good for the right reasons;
not because of a promised reward, or fear of punishment, but rather because
doing good is it's own reward. Admittedly, sometimes to reach that state of
consciousness, we school ourselves with systems of reward and punishment.
However, we mustn't forget that in human development, such systems are only
scaffolding. At some point, we must remove the scaffolding in order to
reveal the true edifice: a mature human being whose actions stem from
rational and pure motives. >>

Thank you John for this. I recently had a discussion with some older women
(grandparents) about manipulating children's behaviours through offering
special treats to keep them quiet or as a reward for waiting. They thought i
was going over board, and stated that we all use behaviour modification to
get what we want, by talking nicely or smiling to others. I thought this was
definitely an over-simplification.

My son has never been a big smiler on cue child, nor does he always say
hello, thank you and please in the way that makes adults beam. Thanks for the
reminder that it is the edifice underneath the scaffolding of rewards and
punishment that is what ought to concern us as parents.

cath
montreal

John O. Andersen

> Thank you John for this. I recently had a discussion with some older
women
> (grandparents) about manipulating children's behaviours through offering
> special treats to keep them quiet or as a reward for waiting. They
thought i
> was going over board, and stated that we all use behaviour modification
to
> get what we want, by talking nicely or smiling to others. I thought this
was
> definitely an over-simplification.
>
> My son has never been a big smiler on cue child, nor does he always say
> hello, thank you and please in the way that makes adults beam. Thanks for
the
> reminder that it is the edifice underneath the scaffolding of rewards and
> punishment that is what ought to concern us as parents.

Yes, somehow, at some point in life, we should make the transition from
doing good for personal gain, to doing good because it's the right thing to
do.


John Andersen
Uncoventional Ideas at http://www.spiritone.com/~andersen
Themestream Articles
http://www.themestream.com/gspd_browse/browse/view_by_tag.gsp?auth_id=34436
Read about the Andersen family travels:
http://www.spiritone.com/~andersen/travel.html