Locke never admitted the necessity of punishment (even corporal punishment) and thought that punishment was a necessary means of education.

"Severe reprimand, flogging, serious warning and punishment" is repeatedly mentioned in the book.

It is easy to leave traces and cause controversy.

Of course, Locke also attaches importance to the role of praise: "praise, forgiveness, encouragement, satisfaction, approval, (frankly admitting mistakes to children) should not show a little doubt and should not make him feel a little uneasy." Locke believes that recognizing, supporting and maintaining children's dignity has great power in cultivating children's virtue and upbringing. Moreover, this kind of encouragement and affirmation is the premise and foundation of the effect of education, and it is also something that educators must adhere to and fully safeguard. However, Locke does not avoid or taboo the necessity of punishment.

Locke's children's whiteboard theory attaches importance to (worries about) the influence of external environment on children's growth (as described in the American poet Whitman's A Child Forward). He regards punishment and praise as a means of education, although it seems controversial and taboo today. But in fact, Locke's Discipline and Punishment is not mechanically rigid, but has profound understanding and uniqueness, clear hierarchy and clear purpose. It is a means based on careful analysis of children's problem behavior, not an end, but the cultivation and education of virtue is the end.

Of course, we can also understand that Locke's education (training) model is from the outside to the inside. He tried to change children's cognition, mind and behavior through this external discipline and punishment, and guided children to develop in the direction of virtue and education. But at the same time, Locke seems to ignore the inner awakening power of children as the main body of life and the development potential of children's spiritual life (such as seed awakening in nature). Children themselves have the motivation and demand to pursue truth, goodness and beauty, or have the ability of self-adjustment and correction.

This view is supported by Montessori's theory of spiritual embryo, the theory of awakening of Zen (everyone has Buddha nature), Mencius' and Xunzi's theories of good and evil, and can also be regarded as two sides of the soul force. In the late Ming Dynasty, Wang Yangming's theory of mind changed his understanding of the world from the awakening of human spiritual energy (subjectivity), and even the holographic theory of modern science and technology supported this statement, and any part reflected the whole life.

However, if we think Locke's educational thought is mechanical and rigid, it is dangerous, which will easily obscure the profundity of Locke's educational thought. In fact, Locke never ignored the respect, understanding and care for children's needs, and all his educational measures were based on this, but his last educational means never evaded the role of punishment, but left the impression that he was too eager for rigid projection from external forces. Just like the stereotype of behaviorism's stimulus-response-reinforcement theory today.

Locke's "Whiteboard Theory" and "Awakening Theory" are actually two sides of two educational thoughts. At a higher level of educational understanding, they are two different forms of expression of a whole, and they are the interaction and integration of external discipline and internal needs.

The external discipline and guidance of nature must be based on a high understanding of children's life itself and respect for nature; Children's spiritual world itself has the ability to feel, understand, absorb and grow in nature. The interaction and development of the two seem to be often contradictory, but they are also integrated. The mystery and transcendence of this growth process is precisely the charm of education as a way of companionship and guidance, which deserves infinite exploration and exploration. It is also the awe-inspiring wonder and infinite possibility of human beings as a natural existence, and it is also the unique charm of education as a spiritual midwifery.

In addition, from the perspective of the interactive growth between man and the natural world (education) (experience world), Whitman's poem does contain such complexity and richness, which is worth reading.

There is a child walking forward.

A child walks forward every day,

The first thing he saw,

He became that thing,

That thing became a part of him,

On that day,

Or part of that day,

Or a few years later,

Still many years.

Or lilacs that bloom in advance,

Then it will become a part of this child,

Grass, beautiful morning glow,

Red and white alfalfa,

And the chirp of that Phoebe bird,

A three-month-old lamb,

A litter of pale pink pigs,

Pony and calf,

There are also barns or muddy ponds.

The chattering chicken family,

And curious fish in the pond,

Beautiful and charming lakes,

Aquatic plants in the pool,

Shake gracefully

All this,

Has become a part of this child.

In April and May, the seedlings in the field became a part of him.

Winter is light yellow corn seedlings,

Apple trees full of flowers,

The most common weed on the roadside,

A drunken old man stumbled back from a small hotel.

The female teacher who passed by here to go to school,

The quarrelling boy passed by here,

A neat and shy little girl,

And all the changes he saw in the city and the countryside.

Mother brought plates of delicious dishes,

A gentle speech,

Dress neatly,

When I walked by, I smelled a healthy smell on my body and clothes.

Father is strong, conceited, tall and stingy.

Anger, injustice,

A quick and loud speech,

Harsh bargaining,

Trick skills,

Undeniable love.

Looking at the villages on the highlands from a distance at sunset,

Rivers, shadows, halos, fog and sunsets in the middle,

Those sailboats drifted lazily downstream nearby,

Rolling waves,

Layers of colorful clouds,

Alone in purple sauce and rosy clouds,

The edge of the horizon,

Flying seagulls

And the fragrance of coastal soil,

These have become a part of that child.

Children who walk forward every day,

He's walking,

He will go straight ahead every day.