The word “discipline” connotes both external discipline (”That child is misbehaving—he needs to be disciplined”) as well as internal discipline (”He is a disciplined learner.”).  But I don’t think these two meanings have any relationship with one another—children do not improve the executive function of their minds via external discipline.  In fact, I think they learn in spite of external discipline.  From the research I’ve been listening to, the executive function is a more recent adaptation of the human brain (in evolutionary time) and is therefore one of the weakest and most prone to being disabled during stressful periods.  If that’s the case, then “disciplining” a child with external stressors such as a spanking would actually lead to less internal discipline/executive function.

As Kelty recently said, “When you go to the principal’s office, you just want to get through it.  No one comes out of that office saying to themselves, ‘I am a changed child!’”