discipline and punish

While reading this excerpt from Faucault’s Disciple and Punish, I began to recognize how strikingly his historical analysis of systems of discipline applied to the DI education implemented at the City Springs School. Faucault describes that in a variety of systems of discipline, the ultimate aim is not only the improvement of skill, but the “formation of a relation that in the mechanism itself makes it more obedient as it becomes more useful, and conversely.” (p. 138) Although the subject of discipline may develop a more advanced capacity, this ability is accompanied with an increasing tendency towards subjection. This idea reminded of when Spady once commented that, “success teaches oppression”, or something to that extent. While students may learn to read and write at City Springs, they must bow down to forms of authority and give up their ability to think for themselves in order to be successful. While some scholars talk about a “hidden curriculum”, I think this represents more of a “hidden methodology” that inures passive obedience.

Faucalt also mentioned that ranking is a tool that has been used in systems of discipline throughout history. At City Springs, there was once scene in which a young male student was promoted to a higher class due to his academic success. In the DI system, students are placed based on ability, not on age. As Faucalt notes, the ranking system bestows special benefits to those who have been successful (in submission), thus encouraging others to do so as well.

Historically, disciplinary systems also place a significant emphasis on keeping strict time, as epitomized by the time sheet. Faucalt notes the “constant supervision, the pressure of supervisors, the elimination of anything that might disturb or distract; it is a question of constituting a totally useful time.” (p. 150) Again, this tactic was paralleled at the City Springs school. School administrators kept a strict daily schedule down to the minute. They disciplined teachers who showed up a few minutes late. They did all of this in order to ensure learning was occurring at each moment of the day. This overemphasis on efficiency is characteristic of a system that treats schools like factories and students like cogs in the machine.