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Katie Willey
ED 611
3/1/2009
Girod
Analysis of Educational Practice: “Catch ‘Em Being Good”
The auditorium is silent as Principal Doyle walks on stage. Hundreds of little
eyes are staring as he drags a large grey bin behind him. He stops mid-stage, and takes
off the lid. Whispers and yelps of excitement flood the auditorium as little elementary
bodies are squirming with anticipation. Assistant Principal, Mrs. Marsh, stands next to
Mr. Doyle, holding a Hula Hoop in one hand and a Beach Boys cassette tape in the other,
which brings a sea of “oooo’s” and “ahhhh’s” amongst the students. Mr. Doyle reaches
in and pulls out a pale green piece of paper, unfolds it and into the microphone
announces, “Philip Baunsgaurd!” The crowd erupts in cheers, while the 2nd grader
anxiously trots down the main aisle to the stage where he chooses the tape over the Hula
Hoop. As he runs back to his seat, he is met with “high-fives” and pats of encouragement
and congratulations from his classmates.
At Jasper Elementary School in Alta Loma, California, this was a monthly ritual
for its staff and students. The entitled, “Catch ‘Em Being Good” Assembly was one that
students, including myself, would look forward to with great enthusiasm. Superb prizes
such as; stationary sets, popular books, hair accessories, toys, art supplies and candy were
offered to the winners, which caused such zeal. How did you get to become a winner?
You have to be caught doing something good! Teachers or staff who observed a
particular student exemplifying good behavior (such as sharing, cleaning up your area
without being asked, picking up trash on the playground, helping another student with
homework etc.) would be given a pale green ticket that had room for the student’s name,
grade and teacher to be written on it. These tickets would then be placed in the big grey
bin on the stage in the cafeteria/auditorium waiting to be pulled at the assembly.
When I attended Jasper from 1989-1993, the school did not have a massive
numbers of students, violent gangs or an especially low socioeconomic demographic.
Jasper implemented the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system to encourage togetherness,
manners and reduce unwanted behavior amongst a semi-diversified population.
When using a stimulus (in this case the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” ticket) in order
to achieve or observe a desired behavior, Behavioral Psychology is being utilized. By
using positive reinforcement (Operant Conditioning), teachers give students tickets in
order to continue a “good” behavior. However, aside from Behaviorism, the use of
extrinsically motivational tactics, in this case the prizes, are also be utilized to get
students to show “good” behavior. The following will describe how both theories are
utilized within the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system and the consequences and effects of
using such theories when molding behavior.
Behaviorism states that a person’s behavior is dictated by the environment around
them and not by internal thought processes. We as humans are not in control of our
actions alone, but are manipulated by that which is around us. Operant Conditioning,
more specifically, explains that our behavior comes from how we respond to what is
presented to us in our environment. In the case of the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system,
the stimulus within the environment is the ticket itself. The idea of prizes, toys and
games is already reinforcing to students, because prizes, toys and games are fun and
exciting. In order to obtain the prizes, students must obtain a ticket. In order to obtain a
ticket, they must exemplify a “good” behavior. Once a student gets a ticket, they will do
what they had to do last time in order to get another one, therefore gaining the reinforcing
prize through natural consequences. “You learn to act differently based on the natural
consequences of your previous actions…If something you did results in a positive
outcome, you are likely to do that same activity again.” (AllPsych/ Heffner Media Group,
Inc.) When students see that getting a ticket is a consequence of doing something
“good”, they are more likely to do more “good” things.
Teachers and staff at Jasper Elementary use that theory to coerce “good”
behavior, and for the unwanted “bad” behavior to be pushed into the background. By
reinforcing “good” behavior through awarding tickets (which we have established as a
connection to winning wonderful prizes), we are making it more likely that students will
exemplify “good” behavior in the future. Thus, teachers are controlling what is presented
in the student’s environment, therefore controlling what behaviors are likely to be
observed.
Behaviorism, in theory, seems to answer the demands of teachers at Jasper by
providing a stimulus within their student’s environments to achieve a desired behavior.
However, behaviorism and operant conditioning has some consequences and errors that
may skew desired results. Every child has been brought up in a different environment;
(family life and structure, access to resources, exposure to civilization, etc.) Behaviorism
operates on the understanding that each person will react to a stimulus within their
environment the same way. For example, if a student who has been brought up in a very
“well-to-do” family where cleaning up was not something that they had to do themselves,
they may not see the stimulus of a ticket as something to validate touching trash, they
have learned that other people do that, and what was learned at home is more powerful
than what is learned in school. Perhaps a child in an extremely broken home saw his
mother beaten everyday, and at school, the stimulus of the ticket would have no response
when it came to changing his violent behavior to sharing and caring, for it is violence that
is modeled and learned at home. In essence, it is the previously learned information
within each student that determines the effectiveness of the “Catch ‘Em Being Good”
system, for the ticket stimulus is responded to differently by each student based on their
individual perceptions of the environment itself.
Behaviorism is one theory seen in the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system; however
the use of extrinsically motivational tactics is also seen is “bribing” students to act in a
way that is considered to be “good” among teachers and staff. Extrinsic motivation can
be described as a student acting in a certain way in order to get a reward or to avoid
punishment, the reward or avoidance of punishment being the student’s reinforcement.
Intrinsic motivation can be described as a student acting in a certain way because of the
enjoyment it provides, because of a sense of accomplishment, etc., the feelings evoked
from the behavior or action are the students reinforcement. In the case of the “Catch ‘Em
Being Good” system, extrinsic motivation is utilized to see desired behavior in students.
The students see the connection between the ticket and the prize. Opposed to the
behaviorist point of view where the ticket was a natural consequence of their
environment manipulated by their teachers, extrinsic motivation is an internal thought
process by the students to win that prize by any means. The ticket now is no longer a
stimulus within their environment, but a vessel by which they can win a fabulous prize
which will make them happy! The focus leaves external environmental stimulus and
consequences and is now based on pure internal thought processes and motivational
trends.
In order to win a great prize that will be revered by their friends, the student must
act in a way that is considered “good”. Upon the behavior, the student is rewarded with a
ticket and is one step closer to winning something amazing. It is because of this that the
student now makes the connection of “good” behavior to awesome prize. It is because of
this connection that this form of psychological process works. However, although this
practice works, along side other forms of extrinsically motivating tactics (stickers, candy
etc), it creates the wrong connections and can turn once intrinsically motivating behavior
into one that is now only done for reward. For example, let’s say a student once loved to
help other students with their math homework because of their love for the subject and
because of the joy in helping people. As noticed by a teacher, that student is
exemplifying “good” behavior; therefore they get a “Catch ‘Em Being Good” ticket.
This student continues to tutor other students in math, but now only under the condition
that they get a “Catch ‘Em Being Good” ticket.
Another example is one that I experienced while at Jasper Elementary, students
were given “Catch ‘Em Being Good” tickets when they picked up garbage off of the
playground. Well many of our recesses were devoted to bringing in handfuls of trash just
for tickets. We may have been exemplifying “good” behavior, but we only saw picking
up trash as an avenue for tickets, we did not care that we were doing something good for
our school. It is this reason that extrinsic motivation fails, because after these students
leave Jasper and go to Alta Loma Middle School, helping a classmate who is struggling
or picking up litter is no longer rewarded, and therefore there is no motivation at all for it
to be done.
When the reinforcement is shifted from intrinsic to extrinsic, it is due to the fact
that extrinsic motivation is usually immediately reinforcing. It takes more time for
intrinsically motivating tasks to become rewarding, while a prize is immediate. You may
love reading, and after weeks of reading a really good book you finally finish and have a
great sense of achievement. However, using “Catch ‘Em Being Good”, if you get a ticket
every time you finish a chapter, reading becomes about the tickets, and not the feeling of
accomplishment when it’s finished.
Another loophole in the extrinsic motivation theory, like with the fault of
behaviorism, is that not all students are raised the same way with the same values. If a
student who hates being put on the spot and does not find candy, toys and prizes
appealing, they may not be motivated at all to get tickets to get called on in front of the
whole school, therefore no need to act “good” and the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system
is null and void for that student demographic.
As shown through the lens of both behaviorism and extrinsic motivation, the
“Catch ‘Em Being Good” system is one that is meant to manipulate the actions and
behaviors of students through means of a desirable effect and/or result (prizes). Why do
teachers and schools do this? If we know that 1) it does not work with all students and 2)
changes the way that “good” behavior is perceived by the students, why are we still using
systems like the “Catch ‘Em Being Good”? It is because it works right now. There are
no long training sessions for teachers to go to, there are no expensive materials needed,
you don’t have to wait weeks or months for results. By using systems such as the “Catch
‘Em Being Good”, teachers will see results immediately. Students will make an effort to
get those tickets by doing things they did not before, producing “good” behavior all
around in a matter of moments. Yes, some students may not respond to the
stimulus/motivation the same way, but sometimes peer pressure and modeling from their
peers may encourage “good” behavior among that group.
As explained, there are some benefits to using tactics such as the “Catch ‘Em
Being Good” system. By rewarding students with things they find fantastic in exchange
for “good” behavior, results are observed. However, it is the over use of such tactics that
create problems. If the tickets were only given to “exceptionally good” behavior that was
unprovoked by the thought process of “if I do this, I’ll get a ticket”, then maybe things
could change, (such as a student helping another student get help who has fallen down on
the black top). Behaviorist and extrinsically motivating tactics will probably always be
used in classrooms, however it is important to balance their use and not rely too heavily
on them, for the outcome of overuse will be reversal.