Discipline at Nixor

When we look at the important characteristics of leaders, one of the main virtues we see is discipline. Since Nixor aims at creating future leaders, discipline is a prime objective. Nixor College is working to create individuals who are not only intelligent but have sound ethical foundations as well. Many schools and colleges of Pakistan do not particularly understand the concept of discipline, and this lack of understanding leads to students being encouraged to break the rules rather than follow them. For example, schools tell students to keep short hair, wear particular shoes, do not bring cell phones, and many such rules which do not particularly serve to make a student more disciplined. And come on, we’re dealing with students here, not army men. Nixor believes in a different approach. As I have said before, students come first at Nixor, however lack of discipline (and not the traditional discipline) is not tolerated.

Think about a scenario here. Suppose you are caught cheating in your school. What will happen? You’ll be told to look in your own paper. Or maybe your paper could even get cancelled. But students will still cheat. I mean think about it, if a student knows nothing about a particular topic, wouldn’t he be getting very less marks anyways? So wouldn’t he think he should risk cheating, as he has nothing to lose? The most that could happen is his paper would be cancelled, which wouldn’t be such a big deal since he would be getting low or no marks anyways.

Nixor’s approach to the above scenario is different. But before telling you about this approach, let me explain two important features, the ‘gendis list’ and ‘strikes’. Lets start with the gendis list. Gendis stands for general disregard. The GenDis list is a list of students who even after repeated reminders have shown General Disregard for the well being of the Nixor community. Being in gendis doesn’t mean suspension or expulsion, but it would mean that the student would find the administration and the dean less receptive to his/her needs. He will stand at a disadvantage when being considered for Nixor programs. How does this make sure that a student gets disciplined? Well firstly his recommendation would be affected. His college application would suffer a serious blow, as he was not being considered for various programs at Nixor. And since significant improvement in attitude and contributions to the Nixor community will get your name off the GenDis List, he would try to work to improve. Minor offenses such as littering, not following school traffic rules, etc get you on the gendis list. The next major feature is the three-strike policy. Everyone makes mistakes. And everyone deserves another chance. But only fools repeat their mistakes. This policy at Nixor works in this way. Engaging in unethical acts will give you strikes. The first strike does not go on your permanent record; the second does, and guess what happens on the third, expulsion! The offences mentioned for getting strikes are
1. Bunking class
2. Physical fights
3. Vandalizing school property or stealing
4. Smoking while in Nixor uniform – regardless of whether this is on or off-campus
5. Insubordination with school administrative staff or faculty
6. Cheating on tests or exams
7. Display of affection on campus not consistent the social norms of Pakistan
8. Accessing pornographic or inappropriate websites on the internet using Nixor College resources
9. Acts of hazing, ragging, or systematic harassment towards other students regardless of class
There are no exceptions to this policy. So deduce what will happen in the above scenario and what would be its result. If a student is caught cheating, without any warning, his paper would be cancelled and he will receive a strike. How would it ensure that that student and others don’t cheat? Well he knows now that over his two years at Nixor he has only two more strikes left. He would make sure he doesn’t do anything offensive, including cheating, so that his record remains clean. Other students would follow this as well.

This is the approach to discipline that actually works. Things that provide students a bit of fun and entertainment are not forbidden unlike most other schools while if any act affects the school and the community it is unacceptable. We have examples. A student’s birthday was being celebrated by his/her friends and then there was a little cake fight. Seeing this, these students would be in trouble in most schools. To add to this, the dean was standing right near where this was happening, probably seeing this too. But he, or any other faculty member didn’t say anything. Do you know what the end result was? These students cleaned the mess they made themselves with mops. And nobody told them too! It was their own realization that with a little fun comes a little responsibility too. Why harm the very place that is allowing you to have fun? This is the attitude that defines leaders. And this is a perfect example of how Nixor’s disciplinary system works wonders!