Students’ behavior in school has been one of the most heated discussed issues and

misbehavior is seen as a major resistance to academic improvement. What is deemed

misbehavior? It is believed to be behaviors that impede educational progress in school,
which hinder the flowing of activity, influence teachers’ management or violate others’
rights (Sullivan, Johnson, Owens, & Conway, 2014). It can take practical forms of talking
out without permission, calling names to classmates or teachers or physical aggression.
Question is: why do young people misbehave in school? Goal Theory, proposed by
Rudolph Dreikurs, examines behaviors regarding to purposes and achievements based on
the belief that there are reasons behind everything and misbehavior is no exception (De
Nobile, Lyons & Arthur-Kelly, 2017). Teachers should, therefore, bear in mind that if
personal needs are failed to be addressed, students feel unaccepted and will seek other
ways “out”. According to Dreikurs, there are four mistaken goals that need to be
considered when checking students’ inappropriate behaviors: attention, power, revenge
and escape (De Nobile et al., 2017). With the goal of attention, students tend to try their
best to get teacher’s recognition and peers acceptance. They act for others rather than for
themselves. In most cases, disruptive actions will bring them satisfaction as consequent
attention from “being a clown” does make them feel their behavior counts. If seeking
attention in such ways is ignored or encouraged, it might worsen and infect others.
Failure to seek attention will drive students to the next level; power. De Nobile et al.,
(2017) showed that students will execute more severe forms of disobedience to
demonstrate the desire of power. Once they target power as their goal, behaviors of
using power over others will occur. Such behaviors are mostly disruptive and interrupting.
While the trial of power seeking is declined, students feel frustration and unjust. Such
feelings will lead to the mode of revenge (De Nobile et al., 2017). If students believe that
there are treated unequally, they will rebel against and damage the environment violently.
Once revenging is not successful, students will seek the goal of escape. Dreikurs believed
“running away” from work is the way they show inadequacy. This kind of passive
misbehavior comes from powerless and helpless. It is clear that Goal Theory analyzes
reasons of misbehavior vertically with degrees of engagement and power. The more
engaged and powerful they feel, the less likely misbehavior will happen.
Comparatively, William Glasser’s Choice Theory concern more horizontally about
individual’s needs. In order to scrutinize students’ behavior comprehensively, five basic
needs are framed: survival, belonging, power, freedom and fun (De Nobile et al., 2017).
Theoretically, students misbehave whenever one or more of these basic needs are
compromised. With surveys concerning behavior issues, De Jong, (2005) found that
environment, culture, classroom management, pedagogy and external support play
crucial role with students’ misbehavior, which align with the needs of Choice Theory.
Basically, survival indicates students’ need for general well being. While feeling hungry,
thirsty, insecure or tired, students are inclined to engage in disruptive activities.
Insufficient sleep will also contribute to functional behavior issues (Lin & Yi, 2015).
Parker, Paget, Ford, and Gwernan-Jones (2016) stated that students with higher need to
survive are more likely to misbehave, so their voices should be heard with more attention.
As with belonging, it is very much like the attention goal of Goal Theory that students
seek comfort and love from the acceptance of others. Failing to get attention from the
valued one will trigger inappropriate behaviors including calling out, showing off or
shutting down, which can been seen as part of the classroom environment. The need of
power indicates that students want to be recognized as valuable and successful. Therefore,
any form of decreasing self-esteem and value will bring about violent behavior such as
dominating classmates or bullying. In extreme conditions, damaging behavior and
vandalism may occur. It also aligns with De Jong’s finding of classroom management.
Poor classroom management will lead to bad behaviors. Speaking of Freedom, “it refers
to the need for independence and autonomy” (De Nobile et al., 2017, p. 225). When
students feel their freedom is imperilled or independence challenged, they will put on
power exertion, such as doing whatever they like ignoring others’ existence and truancy.
This covers De Jong’s principle of culture and environment. Last but not least, fun plays
an essential role in students’ school life. It is generally and reasonably believed that if
students feel happy, they will behave (Sullivan et al., 2014). The most prominent reason
for students not behaving appropriately in school is due to boredom and disinterest.
With research, seven people of different age, class and cultural background were
interviewed with semi-structured interview. This type of interview, with specific question
of why young people misbehave in school, is flexible with possibility to follow up with
options of explanation or more detailed query (Mackey & Gass, 2015). As most of the
interviewees are friends of the researcher, locations were randomly chosen in library or
cafe, wherever comfortable and easy to talk. Time is set between 20 to 35 minutes to
allow possible detailed discussion and note taking but not tedious. Aging between 24 to
60, two of them have children and one is female. According to the interviews several
reasons why young people misbehave were identified.
1. When the content of knowledge is not in students’ comfortable zone, they conduct
inappropriate behavior. It is commonly agreed that if students do not see the lesson
“learnable”, such as too hard, too easy or too boring, they will “switch off ” and turn to
do something else, and mostly those other things they do are disruptive.
You know, I reckon most kids misbehave just because they are not interested. I’ve had
students asking me why learning Indonesian? They will never use it, ever. When young
people learn new things, if they find it no fun or of no meaning, they will not learn.
They do anything but participating. (Head teacher of a high school, a father)

Being challenged within acceptable limit is a good thing. However, sometimes with the
same curriculum, some students find it too difficult, while others think it is too simple.
Then they all get disinterested and start to play around.
I’ve observed some Chinese classes where kids of Chinese background learned nearly
nothing new to them, but many of those from other backgrounds struggled. They cried
to one another like enemies.(Education researcher)

2. Poor learning environment. In a classroom where there is tension in

teacher-student or student-student relationship, misbehavior will present itself on regular
basis.
Students hate classes for many reasons. Like me, when I was in high school, I hated my
 Chinese teacher, not because I didn’t like the subject, but I just disliked her in person.
So I didn’t follow any of her instructions. (Postgraduate student in Education)

Once poor environment is generated, inappropriate behaviors are almost guaranteed.

Poor classroom management leads to terrible communications. Students resort to all
kinds of aggression when they are in a environment where they feel uncomfortable.
(Minister and father of three)

3. Psychological and physical condition. Infinite subtle factors can contribute students’
misbehavior, such as lack of parent support, struggle with peer pressure, bullying etc.
Some children swear in class because that’s the daily conversation of their parents.
Others go crazy in class because they have too much burden in life. It’s a way to let out
something. (PhD student)

4. Inner desire. Different people have different needs. When a behavior is recognized
satisfactory to personal needs, students will do it regardless.
Students act out and be stupid only because they feel good. (Education researcher)

Many kids misbehave because they don’t know what else to do. (University student)

While examining students’ misbehavior and the reasons behind, it is important that
different understandings and opinions will arise due to the angles this issue is viewed
from. It is interesting that power seems to be a commonly recognized factor that plays a
decisive role in inappropriate behaviors. Unlike the goal of power of Goal Theory that
views power as the extension of attention seeking, or power need of Choice Theory
which takes power as longing for sense of fulfillment and value, research findings reveal
the mobility of power reflected in all different reasons of misbehavior. If students feel
some subject not “learnable”, they misbehave because they are powerless in that subject.
If they misbehave as a result of poor learning environment, then there is power
insufficiency in classroom relationships. Misbehavior result from psychological and
physical condition mirrors disproportionate power flow. Inner desire driven misbehavior
discloses students’ level of power measurement and management.
Sense of existence is a key element that explains why students misbehave in school. More
basic than the five basic needs of Choice Theory, sense of existence declines when any
of those five shrinks. For example, sense of existence decreases if need for safety and
food is not addressed. Moreover, lack of affection, recognition, independence and
enjoyment will also diminish its value. Thus, instead of ticking each box one by one, ask
such questions as whether the sense of existence is threatened and how. Shedding light
on “learnability”, learning environment, psychological and physical condition and inner
desire, sense of existence reveals mainly about recognition of meaning of life.
Comfort is another level of behavior gauge. Based on the combination of the rhythm of
Goal Theory and the scope of Choice Theory, it vertically reflects the evolution of needs
from power to sense of existence and then upwards to comfort. Horizontally, it checks
all possible factors, such as belonging, affection and freedom so as to be comfortable.
Since individual needs are mobile and tend to be incremental, effort is required to match
their comfort level. From the interview, female interviewees mentioned more
misbehavior possibilities due to lack of affection, love, and value, while male
interviewees focused more on power, freedom and fun. Moreover, two from Chinese
background emphasized power factors, but five Australian leaned on sense of existence.
Therefore, it is important to take various contexts into consideration before making a
judgment.
Drawing on the research findings and theoretical implications, it offers preservice
teachers, teachers and educators a new way of thinking why young people misbehave in
school. Knowing that each inappropriate behavior is rooted in a category and need to be
examined both vertically and horizontally considering individual differences. As a teacher,
the journey of understanding theoretical frameworks, executing a particular ideology and
reflecting on its practicality is ongoing and crucial. When certain misbehavior appears,
teachers should know why it happens and how to maneuver it back on the right track.
More than blaming students for lack of discipline and punishing them, teachers need to
understand that those rebellious young people are somehow victims who need more help
than persecution (Parker et al., 2016). As a preservice teacher, the researcher realizes the
complexity of teaching and learning practices and the significance of understanding deep
reasons systematically. If misbehaved students are helped with care and love by their
teachers as family, problems are more likely to be solved and teachers will learn through
the process and improve their ability. In addition, problem analysis group should be
established in school so teachers can share ideas and propose solutions from different
perspectives. They can also collaborate to structurally analyze issues in a particular
situation and support each other. Schools should provide teachers with policy and
financial help for teachers as improving behavior management will result in academic
promotion and increase school reputation. Community also need to contribute to this
project by sharing information and communicating with different stakeholders. Positive
connections will not only benefit analysis of reasons of misbehavior, but also help with
sophisticated resolutions. After all, it is a big project that needs everyone’s contribution.
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Mackey, A., & Gass, S. M. (2015). Second language research: Methodology and design. Routledge.

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