Nimrod J.

Dacles
BA-PHILO 4
PHI403

Blind obedience vs. informed obedience

Disciplinary measures are taken to instil fear upon individuals, to make them docile
and impel them to act contrary to the behavior which is the object of discipline and
punish. When I was in grade three I had a terrible experience during an examination.
Allow me to recount what had transpired at that moment:

My glance turned from left to right, upward and downward as I scanned the entire test
paper and attentively provided my answers for every item of the science exam. While
taking the exam, I had a certain feeling of confidence though the question were
unintelligible for me given my level of comprehension at that age but the principle of
my confidence came from the fact that the questionnaire was reviewed to the entire
class by our teacher trice, yes three times. So it wouldn’t be a surprise if I got the highest
remark on the day of the exam. It was a triumphant victory for me but it was not the
case for some of my classmates, rather it was a suspicious feat on my part. They thought
that I resorted to dishonourable means like cheating so that it would make sense that I
got a perfect score on that exam (which again was reviewed three times). And to my
own detriment I reacted negatively to their accusation which only added fuel to their
unjustified claim. Until one of my classmates inspected my bag and found a piece of
warrant to ascertain their accusation; my classmate found a reviewer inside my bag and
presented it to the class and to our teacher. As a result, the teacher suspected me of the
same misconduct and with joined judgment along with the evidence at hand they
passed the verdict against me of being guilty of cheating. Me guilty of an act I did not
even commit? Was it weird or problematic or something extraordinary to attain a
perfect score on a science test? It was painful, that my name, my identity be associated
and predicated with the term cheater. All I could do was cry at least to appeal for my
innocence, it was not an apologetic plea to be pardoned over a wrong doing or
misconduct, hoping that I will receive my classmates’ sympathy but what I got instead
was penetrating gazes of contempt and dislike. Afterwards, the teacher made me retake
the exam as my punishment, a disciplinary measure was undertaken to rectify my soul
and to prevent me from committing the same misconduct in the future. Instead of using
questionnaire and answer sheet, the teacher herself dictated the questions for me and I
had to listen carefully for she will only repeat them twice. The exam was a one-on-one
activity, as if I was her only student in the room. In the end, I got two mistakes on that
retake, which satisfied the class and my teacher. It was no other than but a torment on
my soul while taking the exam alone; I couldn’t escape from being gazed upon with
eyes of judgment from my classmates. I had no chance of resisting, the only choice was
to conform, to let myself undergo the process of public humiliation; being labelled as a
violator of a good conduct, like those criminals who were publicly tortured and
executed for their crimes. I could not defend myself from being subjected to a series of
ordeal and the only option was to endure. No one can escape from the disciplinary
power of hierarchical observation.

I was punished so that I will learn, and become docile under the disciplinary power of
an authority. From that aforementioned experience, I made a resolve to refrain from any
form of cheating but only because out of fear of public humiliation that torments the
soul. But it did not last long when I resorted to cheating per se, when I was in high
school, there was a time that I deliberately cheated on my exams for the only thing that
restrained my behavior was fear of being caught and punished. The disciplinary
measure that my teacher utilized was inadequate, I would not go on to say ineffective,
for it only subdued my tendency to cheat and did not purify it by integrating it to
healthy disposition or character. I was only made to conform uninformed not
collaborate knowledgably; I was rendered to be a docile puppet not as a free agent; I
was blinded by fear not informed by reasoned choice. I think this is what Michel
Foucault wanted to convey when he criticized the modern penal system, that it did not
actually achieve the goal it endeavoured to attain like in the case of criminals, being
incarcerated for long periods of time did not guarantee their change of character;
instead it ceased to become a corrective and formative measure but nothing more than
an exercise of power. The educational system alike, being a fantastic place that
resembles prison, expresses the same disciplinary power, which I was subjected to. In
the end, it would only be hacking the leaves if disciplinary measures render individuals
to blindly obey what the authority wants. On the contrary, it would be striking the roots
if individuals are reinforced and empowered to develop informed and sensitive
obedience, to act not under the constraints of fear and discipline but under the law of
freedom. It was only in the seminary that I made the reasoned choice of refraining from
acts of cheating because I discovered its dire repercussion and the inherent value of
living an honourable life through the accompaniment of those in authority. So
discipline oscillates between two ends, blind obedience and informed obedience, and I
favour the latter.