8. Counselling, not disciplinary action, is the most effective technology for social control in schools. Do you agree?
             A certain degree of discipline is required in schools to enable students to receive their education. I believe that disciplinary action, coupled with counselling would be able to provide a certain degree of social control in schools. However, I believe that there are both advantages and limitations for both methods, namely counselling and disciplinary action. To develop this view, I will examine both advantages and limitations of both methods in a Singaporean context.
             Before plunging into my argument, there are a few terms to be defined. Firstly, I will define counselling as the process by which professionals or trained personnel try to change the mindset or thinking of juvenile delinquents. Secondly, disciplinary action consists of punishments, both harsh and mild, being used to deter and prevent repetition of the offence, by the offender and potential offenders. Lastly, social control in schools is the control of the school population so as to prevent the social structure in schools from degenerating into chaos.
             Counselling is essentially a method of trying to maintain harmony within the school population by influencing the mindset of offenders. Counselling is usually done in private where the counsellor, usually a teacher trained in the psychology of students, talks to the student (the offender), and tries to make him see the error of his wrongdoings. The student's sense of pride is not affected in this aspect as his privacy is respected. The student is not humiliated in front of his peers and thus he may be more receptive to what the teacher has to say, therefore he could change for the better. This is essentially the main advantage of counselling.
             Counselling could be used for students who commit minor offences, for example, tardiness or copying during tests or examinations. For the latter offen...