What is discipline?
We explain what discipline is and what discipline refers to as a value. In addition, the types that exist and an example of discipline.
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What is discipline?
Discipline is understood (from the Latin discipulus , “disciple, student”) refers to a coordinated, orderly and systematic way of doing things , according to a method or code or some consideration of the correct way of doing things.
In principle, discipline has to do with the teaching of this method, with the work of teaching or organizing a collective, in order to achieve a task more quickly or efficiently . In cases where an individual exercises discipline over himself, one speaks of self – discipline .
There is talk of discipline in various environments, such as the family (in which children are disciplined), the military (in which absolute obedience is required) or the school (in which children are professionally or academically trained), and also in the ethical and moral, referring in that case to the necessary suppression of certain individual impulses towards understanding, professionalism and living community.
Probably from its original meaning, the consideration of discipline is also derived as an orderly, structured, methodical set of knowledge, a crucial concept for the organization of science and academic knowledge . This same meaning applies to certain sports ( sports disciplines) or even art forms .
However, at certain times discipline may become somewhat negative, when it becomes synonymous with repression, censorship, compliance with the orders of a superior, however fair or unfair, violence by the powerful. In fact, in past centuries this word was used to refer to the physical punishment of slaves and also to the physical punishment that was exercised on children in a family.
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Discipline as a value
Discipline is valued, understood as a positive feature of the individual, when it translates into the ability to follow instructions , to obey a logical and positive system of doing things, or even when an individual is able to impose a method on himself. and follow it to the letter (self-discipline).
For example: a disciplined worker will be one who obeys a work method of few distractions, great results and constancy in doing. A disciplined student is one who undertakes study as a method to adhere to with commitment . That is, those who perform their work in an orderly and systematic, methodical way.
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Types of discipline
There are various types of discipline, judging by the field that encourages them:
- Military discipline . That which concerns the fidelity of the armed forces, whose role is to guarantee the system and the protection of the nation, so that they can only be disciplined and organized, without room for play or doubt.
- School discipline . That which occurs within the various educational institutions, from preschool to universities, and that guarantees the continuity in time of knowledge and a method of imparting them progressively.
- Labor discipline . That which has to do with professional performance, and that distinguishes labor issues from personal ones, ensuring that the work is carried out in an orderly and effective manner.
- Self – discipline . That which, in any field, applies to oneself to carry out a task in a stipulated time and in an orderly manner.
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Examples of discipline
A classic example of discipline is writers such as the American Ernest Hemingway, whose extensive narrative work was produced daily, according to a fixed series of rules by which he himself adhered and defended by cape and sword, such as writing daily ( and standing), stop writing when you still knew what is next, use the least amount of adjectives, etc. Hemingway was a disciplined writer.
The opposite would be a writer who writes when he provokes, without following an order, alternating between texts and between forms, without a method . This would surely yield slower and chaotic results, less committed to the trade. That is an undisciplined writer.