The Value of Discipline
“Discipline must come through liberty…..We do not consider an individual disciplined only when he has been rendered as artificially silent as a mute and as immovable as a paralytic. He is an individual annihilated, not disciplined.” -Maria Montessori
Discipline is of the greatest importance in schools, colleges, and everyday life. It requires voluntary and willing obedience to fixed codes of behaviour. Discipline puts restrictions on one’s freedom and actions. Discipline means proper coordination of all the organs and faculties of a man. A disciplined man’s hands, eyes, ears, legs, and feet are under the perfect control of his mind. His hands will do just he wants them to work. Only a disciplined man can work hard. Consistency in a man’s character comes from discipline. It is important because its absence would bring in chaos and disorder.
Civilized life is not possible without discipline. It is necessary for people in all walks of life. Students in educational institutions, defense personnel working in the armed forces and industrial workers employed in factories must have discipline. It is a discipline which enables a nation to match on the road of progress and prosperity. An efficient army is one which is perfectly disciplined. Defense forces must have the discipline of the men of the Light Brigade who believed ” theirs is not to reason why theirs but to do or die.”
Discipline is of the greatest importance in schools and colleges. It is a pity that our schools and colleges have become hotbeds if student unrest. The object of N.C.C and National Services Scheme is to make students disciplined. The fall in the discipline in schools has led to falling in the educational standards. It is not possible to teach properly if there is no discipline in the classroom. The same applies to offices. Discipline is absent in government offices. There is a need for discipline in the social and political life of the country. Some of the anti-national activities like smuggling hoarding and black marketing show the absence of discipline from our national life. It is a complete lack of discipline among our political leaders.
Discipline is essential in the narrow domestic life. Children must be disciplined when they are under the care of their parents. Parents themselves should not lead a cat and dog life lest they should have a bad influence on their children. This childhood is the seed time of the future of a man. A nation can not face external threats if it is lacking in discipline. Without national discipline, we can not have national integration. Even the fabric of our democratic society is likely to suffer without discipline.
The universe also works according to discipline. There is a great sense of discipline among the animals and birds. Stars and planets have their fixed paths. Man is supposed to the crown of creation. He must also be disciplined if he wants to live a decent life. The functioning of the various departments of our government shows that we do not have any discipline. It is because of the lack of discipline in our national life that India remains a poor country.
In the good old days our great teachers, saints and Yogi’s thought and practiced discipline. In those days India was a source of spiritual inspiration and guidance to the world. But now we have become a nation with no discipline, self-control, and efficiency. That is why we remain a backward nation. In some way, people in the west remain more disciplined than Indians. They are more punctual, law-abiding regular and hardworking. So, they are more powerful and prosperous than we are
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