Discipline in the Classroom: Past and Present Throughout the history of classroom education, many different types of disciplinary systems have been applied by teachers and other authority figures in schools for the sole purpose of controlling student behaviour. These systems include corporal punishment, psychological abuse or neglect, and assertive discipline. Although two of these three topics are illegal at this time, they were all widely used in schools across the country a short time ago. Corporal punishment in general can be defined as the infliction of pain or confinement as a penalty for an offense committed by a student. During the