Better Late Than Never

Better Late Than Never:

SHS Students’ Perception of CALC’s Code of Discipline on Attendance in Class and its Effects

on their Behavior

Carlos Cantuba, Roeve Morcilla and Via Saludo

Gr. 11 – St. Josemaria Escriva

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Abstract

This study examined the opinions of the Senior High School students of Canossa

Academy Lipa to the Code of Discipline, focusing mainly on the attendance in classes and its

effects on their behavior. Senior high school students (N = 100) were examined through survey

questionnaires and interviews were conducted on the school’s High School Prefect of

Disciplines. The researchers predicted that class attendance and the imposed laws about it has

relative impacts on their behavior. The result of the interviews and surveys that the researchers

conducted in order to justify and answer the research questions, is that Senior High School

students and the imposed code of discipline have no such relationship to the effect of their

behavior. Many Senior High School students are not extremely bothered by the fact that they

have violated the school’s code of discipline and the sanctions given are not yet strong enough to

change and teach the students what rules should they follow.
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Better Late Than Never

In every organization rules are implemented for the members to follow. These rules are

created to promote order and discipline within that group. This notion is also applied within

schools. Rules are perceive as the Code of Discipline of that group. Its purpose is to regulate

standards of conduct and incapacity within group of students. Due to the differences in their

behavior, not everyone is capable of following these rules. The reasons behind this will be

explored in this research.

In every school there are different sets of disciplinary codes. These codes share similar

objectives like, to develop proper habits, teach respect for order, and to provide an acceptable

character for the students who belong in the society. Schools have four major purposes for

schooling, namely intellectual purposes, political purposes, economic purposes, and social

purposes (DeMarrais & LeCompte, 1995). Disciplinary codes applies in the social objective of

the school because it is where the students are molded to be adequate for the norms of the society

they belong to. In this research the Code of Discipline of Canossa Academy Lipa, City will be

explored, especially the part on the attendance in class. The perception of the Senior High school

students towards it and how it affects their behavior will also be explored. In this research the

following questions will be explored:

1. What is CALS’s Code of Discipline on Attendance in Class?

2. How do the SHS students perceive the said code of discipline and how do they react

towards it?

3. How does the said code affect the SHS Students’ behavior? And how effective is the said

code to the behavior development of the SHS?

4. How effective is CALC’s Code of Discipline on Attendance in Class to the behavior

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development of the SHS students?

A study conducted about the students’ reasoning about school rules found that students

are not just passive receivers in their socialization process (Thornberg, 2008). The findings

seemed logical because some social norms or rules will be accepted while others will be

questioned or doubted, or even rejected by them (Neff and Helwig 2002; Wainryb 2006). There

could be many reasons why some students would choose not to follow the school rules. The

Social Contract Theory can be used as an explanation. It states that rational people will accept

rules governing behavior on the condition that others accept them as well (Kant et al., 1797).

This applies to the mentality of those students who defy the Code of Discipline of the school, if

they would see someone not obeying the rules it would also lead them to conclude that it is

unreasonable to follow. Another study stated that the lack in social bonds results in the avoidance

to rules and regulations of the students (Kwayu, 2014). With all those possible reasons behind

the violations of the students to the Code of Discipline of schools, the perception of them

towards these and how they are affected by it were left out.

Previous studies related on the topic on the perception of students’ on the Code of

Discipline of schools and the reasons on why they do not consider those rules reasonable

provided next steps for further research to emerge. Past studies focused on the perception of the

students towards the school rules in a technical way and some details on that topic were left out.

Also, the evidences used on the previous studies were contradicting because the theories used

were stating different ideas. One research used the Social Contract Theory which states that if

one student accepts the rules then it may also cause other students to accept that rule (Kant et al.,

1797); the other research used the Social Control Theory which states that individuals break the

law due to a breakdown with their societal bond (Hirschi, 1969).

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Based on the past studies and their findings, official explanations on the perception of the

students towards the Code of Discipline are still not final. It goes the same with their findings on

the effects of the said rules to the students’ behavior. There are no clear explanations regarding

the effects brought by the Code of Discipline. Perhaps, focusing more on narrow ideas on the

topic would result for additional information and findings. Consequently, this research helps us

to focus on the students’ perception of the CALC’s Code of Discipline. Specifically, the aspect

pertaining on Attendance in Class. The students who are involved with issues connected to

violations on the rules for attendance in class were expected to be affected by the sanctions and it

would help them to develop skill in time management. Specifically, the Senior High school

students in Canossa Academy.

Method

Respondents

In order to select the respondents, the researchers used the purposive sampling method,

wherein the respondents were only limited to the SHS students who were violating the CALC’s

code of discipline in attendance. It included 20 respondents from the five sections of Grade 11

students. Moreover, the two prefect of discipline of the high school department were also

selected as a respondents since they were the one implementing the school’s rules and

regulations.

Materials

The researchers were able to gather data using the survey questionnaires that were

distributed and answered by selected respondents. Aside from that, interview letter and

questionnaires were also prepared before the interview with the two prefect of discipline was

done.
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Procedures

As an initial step, the researchers prepared the above mentioned materials. Made

questionnaires and photocopied it. Also, the researchers distributed interview letter to the two

interviewee. After which, researchers went to different sections of grade 11 students to find all

potential respondents to answer the survey questionnaires. After finding, the researchers asked

the selected respondents to answer the survey form honestly. Then, immediately went to the

office to orient the interviewees about the questionnaires that were distributed to them. After

they have answered, the researchers collected it and find out all the probable conclusions. These

two gathering techniques were used since it helped to reach the data saturation that really

contributed to the paper.

Results

The perception of the students towards the Code of Discipline on Attendance of CALC

are divergent, particularly with the orientation of the Senior High schools students. The said

statement will be explored in the research paper. The purpose of this research was to determine

the effectiveness of CALC’s Code of Discipline on Attendance in Class and to find out whether

it contributes to the behavior development of the Senior High school students. Various steps

were taken by the researchers to gather the data necessary to create the paper. Interviews with the

Prefects of Discipline of the school were conducted and surveys were performed with the 100

senior high school students. The gathered information through those two method aims to answer

the following research questions: What is CALC’s Code of Discipline on Attendance in Class?

How do the Senior High school students perceive the said code of discipline and how do they

react towards it? How does the said code affect the Senior High students’ behavior? And how

effective is CALC’s Code of Discipline on Attendance in Class to the behavior development of

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the Senior High school students.

The interview was conducted among the two high school prefect of discipline of CALC,

namely, Mrs. Editha Guiterrez and Mr. Norbeto Aguilar. They were asked regarding the Impact

of the CALC’s code of discipline to the behavior of the students and presented below are the list

of questions and the summary of their answers.

1. How is your life being the prefect of discipline?

2. Do you believe in the school’s code of discipline even before you were appointed as one?

3. What problems/violations about discipline do you regularly encounter?

4. Why are these violations repeatedly done by the students? Do you think this rule concerning

such violations is not effectively implemented or undertaken?

5. What other measures do you think should be taken to strengths to the code of discipline?

6. In general, what can you say about the impact/s of the code of discipline especially in class

attendance on the behavior of the SHS students?

According to the two discipline coordinators, their life being the prefect of discipline is

also the same as the other subject teachers however, it is more stressful at any time of the day,

and they could be called for any untoward behavior of anyone from the high school students.

And the violations they regularly encounter is the tardiness which is repeatedly done due to those

parents who are unaware whether their children will be late, the proximity of home and also

others who were just lazy to go to school early. Meanwhile, the rules concerning such violations

are effectively undertaken, only that, other teachers, students, and parents should help as well.

Without the cooperation of all the members of Canossa Educative Community, it will not be
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fully effective.

On the last question, Mrs. Guitierrez asserted that there is no problem with the code of

discipline instead the problem is the perception of SHS students that they were old enough to

follow the rules in attendance and they should be treated as college students, which should not

be. On the other hand, Mr. Aguilar exclaimed that he cannot easily fit the connection between

the Code of Discipline in attendance on the behavior of the students just because he cannot

assess the effects it offers, only the class advisers and subject teachers can track its relation.

Code of Discipline's
11% violators

Yes No

89%

The researchers also distributed survey questionnaires to 100 Senior High School

students to know the perspective of these SHS students who are often violating CALC’s Code of

Discipline, specifically in the attendance in classes. And how the said code affects their behavior

as a student.

Figure 1: SHS Students who violates the CALC’s Code of Discipline

In the first figure, the volume of the senior high school students who violated the CALC’s

Code of Discipline is showed. 89% of the surveyed SHS students admitted that they have

violated the code of discipline and 11% of them deny violating the code of discipline. This

shows the vast amounts of SHS students who continue to violate the rules and regulations of the

school.
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Effect
4% of the sanctions
10%
Extremely
39% Very Much
A Little
47% Not at all

Figure 2: SHS

Students who are affected by the sanctions given to them

Effectiveness of the school's Code of Discipline

52% 48% Yes No

In the second figure the effects of the sanctions to the students who violated the rules are

showed, only 4% of them are extremely affected by the sanctions given to them, and 10% of

them are very much affected but 47% of them are a little affected and 39% of them are not at all

affected. This shows how effective the school is in proposing and implementing the rules and

regulations that they set to the students.

Figure 3: SHS Students’ thoughts about the effectiveness of Code of Discipline

In the third figure the thoughts of the students towards the Code of Discipline of CALC

are explored, 48% agree that the school’s code of discipline is still effective in maintaining order

in the campus because some of the SHS students still follow the rules. Meanwhile, 52% of the

participants view the school’s Code of Discipline as ineffective. The volume of students who

view the Code of Discipline as ineffective is slightly larger than those who answered effective.
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Develops skills in time management

20%

Yes No

80%

Figure 4: SHS students’ development of time management skill

In the fourth figure the amount of students who consider the Code of Discipline on

Attendance in Class as a factor that develops skills in time management was showed. 80% of the

participants answered that it helps them develop skills in time management. In contrast with this,

20% answered that it is not a help for them in developing skills in time management. The volume

of students who view the Code of Discipline on Attendance in Class as helpful in developing

skills in time management was evidently larger than those students who do not view it as helpful.

Behavior change to the students

60
53
49
50
40 36 A B C
33
30 25
20 D E
10
0
Effects on their behavior

Figure 5: Effects of the rule about tardiness to the behavior of a SHS student
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Seri Statements
es In the
A Whenever I come to school late, I feel ashamed to enter the class.
fifth B I feel all right even if I’m late in class. figure the
C When I get sanctions, I feel bad.
effects D I overthink when I commit violations specially tardiness on the
E Being punished due to tardiness, interferes with my school work
behavior of the

SHS students of the said code was explored. The effects on the behavior of the SHS students was

verified and 33% of the 100 respondents feel ashamed when they come to school late, 49% of

them feel bad when they receive sanctions, 25% of these students overthink whenever they

commit tardiness, 36 % of the respondents thinks that the punishment they are given, interferes

with their school work. Among these choices, 53 % of the chosen Senior High School students

are not troubled with the sanctions and punishments they might acquire for violating these set of

laws.

Discussion

The purpose of this research was to determine the effectiveness of CALC’s Code of

Discipline on Attendance in Class and to find out whether it contributes to the behavior

development of the Senior High school students. We speculated that the Code of Discipline on

Attendance in Class would have an effect on the students and this would help them to develop

skills like time management

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Code of Discipline's violators

11%

Yes No

89%

Figure 1: SHS Students who violates the CALC’s Code of Discipline

Effect
4% of the sanctions
10%

39% Extremely Very Much

A Little Not at all

47%

Some Senior High School students, being the oldest students studying in Canossa, have

the habit of violating the code of discipline in terms of being tardy to their classes. 89% of the

surveyed SHS students admitted that they have violated the code of discipline and 11% of them

deny violating the code of discipline. This shows the vast amounts of SHS students who continue

to violate the rules and regulation of the school.

Figure 2: SHS Students who are affected by the sanctions given to them

According to the answers given by the chosen SHS students, only 4% of them are

extremely affected by the sanctions given to them, and 10% of them are very much affected but

47% of them are a little affected and 39% of them are not at all affected. This shows how

effective the school is in proposing and implementing the rules and regulations that they set to
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the students.

Effectiveness of the school's Code of Discipline

52% 48% Yes No

Figure 3: SHS Students’ thoughts about the effectiveness of Code of Discipline

Based on the answers of the chosen Senior High School students, 48 % agree that the

school’s code of discipline is still effective in maintaining order in the campus because most of

the SHS students follow the rules and some of them come to school early which shows that some

SHS students are afraid to get violations so they discipline themselves and come to school early,

and it also changes bad habits of not being punctual.

Meanwhile, 52% of the chosen SHS students think that the school’s rules and regulations

are not effective enough, since some are still not following the rules and often, other violators are

able to escape getting sanctions, so it shows how the school regulations and teachers are not as

strict as they should be, but other students who denies the effectiveness of the school rules and

regulation thought that the code of discipline seems a bit too much to follow and so, some

students act so reckless and rebel from the rules.

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Develops skills in time management

20%

Yes No

80%

Figure 4: SHS students’ development of time management skill

Time management skills are developed based on the 80% agreement of the chosen SHS

students because this code of discipline that focuses on the class attendance teaches students to

be mindful of the time and becoming punctual. It also emphasizes on teaching the students how

to manage time efficiently and develops self-discipline, obedience, multitasking abilities, and

their personality.

However, 20% of the students don’t think that time management skills are not developed

in the implementation of the class attendance rules because regardless of what they implement,

students still manage to be late and not be affected of the sanctions given to them whenever they

exhibit tardiness, and some say that it does not develop time management skills but rather it is

made to make SHS students follow the rules and be obedient rather than achieving good time

management skills.
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Behavior change to the students

60
53
49
50
40 36 A B C
33
30 25
20 D E
10
0
Effects on their behavior

Figure 5: Effects of the rule about tardiness to the behavior of a SHS student

Seri Statements
es The
A Whenever I come to school late, I feel ashamed to enter the class.
effects B I feel all right even if I’m late in class. on the
C When I get sanctions, I feel bad.
behavior D I overthink when I commit violations specially tardiness of the
E Being punished due to tardiness, interferes with my school work
SHS students

was verified and 33% of the 100 respondents feel ashamed when they come to school late which

means that these students are conscious of the trouble that they are making for interrupting class

discussions or class organizations. Meanwhile, 49% of them feel bad when they receive

sanctions, showing that SHS students are still bothered by the fact that they violated some

school’s rules and regulations and that they have to receive the consequence of their action. 25%

of these students overthink whenever they commit tardiness, they may have been thinking about

the possible outcomes of their disobedience to the rules, and 36 % of the respondents thinks that

the punishment they are given, interferes with their school work, this shows that even though

some students violates the rules, they do not think that they would have to be punished and does

not take the consequence of their behavior, that is why they may think that punishments for

tardiness is unimportant and that school works are more important than it. Among these choices,
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53 % of the chosen Senior High School students are not fazed of the sanctions and punishments

they may acquire for violating these set of laws, this ignorance towards the law, shows that the

code of discipline does not affect the behavior of some students and the sanctions obtained are

not strong enough to discipline the students and so students still violate and ignore these rules

because of the mentality that they have, that doing these violations does not faze them at all.

1. What is CALC’s Code of Discipline on Attendance in Class?

The Code of Discipline on Attendance in Class of CALC focuses in the goal in teaching

the students responsibility regarding their schedule inside the school, from the moment they

became a part of the school and at the present time. It is a set of norms proposed by the school to

help the students and each member of the school to impose discipline towards rules, notably

rules about attendance in class

2. How do the SHS students perceive the said code of discipline and how do they react

towards it?

SHS students perceive the Code of Discipline on Attendance in Class in many indefinite

ways. Most of them consider the said code as ineffective in pursuing its objective in

implementing discipline towards class attendance. Another negative perception from students is

focused more on the commotion caused to their work. They consider it as a drawback with their

work because the sanctions that are brought by the violations to the said code steals their time for

their duties. There is also a positive perception from the students, some considered the code as a

developer of skills in time management. It is a stand for the code that proves that it is still able to

provide the students its true purpose.

3. How does the said code affect the SHS students’ behavior?
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In terms of skills development it has its own contributions. The said code helps the

students to develop skills like time management which in return would come in handy for the

students who will receive the promising effect. However, the code also has its negative

contribution to the behavior of the students. Somehow, the code is also able to teach the students

the idea of disregarding rules which are causing them delay on their work.

4. How effective is CALC’s Code of Discipline on Attendance in Class to the behavior

development of the SHS students?

The feedbacks that came from the students lead to the allegation that the effectiveness of

the CALC’s Code of Discipline on Attendance in Class is inferior to the expected effectiveness

level. It is proven by the lack of improvement in the behavior of the students. However, the

purpose of the code is still met due to the certain skills that are being developed by the said code

like time management.

Conclusion

Every educational institution follows and implements certain rules and regulation to keep

the order and teach every student the value of these rules. Though, some of these regulations

could create an either positive or a negative effect on the students. The aim of this research is to

identify and assess the perceptions of the Senior High School students of Canossa Academy to

the code of discipline with regards to their attendance in classes and whether they leave a

positive or a negative effect on the students. The researchers are able to gather data through the

conducted survey questionnaires to 100 SHS students of Canossa Academy and an interview to

their Prefect of Discipline of both the girls and boys division

In agreement with the Social Contract Theory, that states that if an individual is able to
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show to the crowd that he or she is capable of accepting and following a rule, then he can

influence other people to accept and follow the same rule that an individual was able to do.

Though, in the cases of the SHS students of Canossa Academy, it seems that the lack of

understanding and self-discipline of an individual towards the code of discipline has led to other

students to be influenced by the defiance that an individual did. This defiance could lead to the

disobedience of the larger crowd, and thus, resulting to the rebellion of the students to the

school’s code of discipline. However, there has not been a progress towards the lessening of the

amount of students that are coming to school later than the assembly time which is at 7 o’ clock

in the morning; which leads to punishments or sanctions given to them, these sanctions are either

a half-day or whole-day community work in the premises of the school or rather, a suspension

for three, four, or even five days, depending on the greatness of impact of their violations from

the school.

Many SHS students tend to become very lax and stubborn with choosing between what

they would want to do and what they need to do. Therefore, looking at the list of names that the

Prefect of Discipline has, there are still many violators and there may have not been an

improvement towards the junior high school, this deviance is because of the students’

disagreement with some of the parts in the yearly improvised and improved code of discipline.

The lack of obedience and respect towards the school’s code of discipline is already a

sign of a deviance and rebellion towards it, and it could be clearly seen when students, despite

the constant punishments and efforts for the students, they still opt to violate the school’s rules

and regulation. This is a clear sign that the Code of Discipline of Canossa Academy is not yet

strong enough and it needs more cooperation from both the teachers and the students for it to be

able to be properly executed and properly followed by the students of the academy.
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Recommendation

This research suggests that the perception of SHS students towards CALC’s Code of

Discipline on Attendance in Class is an argument that is composed of complex segments that

could continue with new research papers that are related to the topic at hand. The paper is

recommended to be read by the students, teachers, discipline coordinators, and individuals who

are interested in gaining knowledge about the perception of the students towards the Code of

Discipline on class attendance and the effects brought by this subject. Subsequent studies may

use this paper as their guide to research on ideas not explored in this paper. Other parts of the

Code of Discipline of CALC may be used as latter topics. They may discuss the effects of certain

parts of the Code of Discipline to the behavior of the students or they may just focus on the

impression that may be left by the implementation of that certain part of the Code of Discipline.

In addition, subsequent studies may involve all the high school students with the school as their

respondents for them to gather more ideal information. For the most part, researchers may also

involve different respondents like parents and other individuals in exploring subsequent topics

for them to have a wider scope of arguments and statements.

References

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http://www.purposeofschool.com/philosophical/

Schubert, J. (n.d.). Study.com. Retrieved March 4, 2017, from Social-control-definition-theory-

examples: http://study.com/academy/lesson/social-control-definition-theory-
examples.html

Thomberg, R. (2008). Diva portal. Retrieved March 4, 2017, from Diva portal website:
https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva?2:18301/FULLTET01.pdf