Marvin Marshall EdD ’69, a member of The Academy, has been giving to the school’s Annual Fund for more than 30 years. A prolific speaker and author, Marshall has been a teacher, counselor, and school administrator, and currently presents his Raise Responsibility System to schools worldwide. His book and seminar, Discipline Without Stress, Punishments or Rewards: How Teachers and Parents Promote Responsibility & Learning, shows educators how to use internal motivation – rather than rules and consequences – to get students to behave responsibly and to learn without coercion. The book is available to any school in the U.S. for free at www.disciplinewithoutstress.org/
Q: Why did you choose to go into the education field?
A: I had taught for one year after I was married. Since I was active in student government in college and was awarded the outstanding male student when I graduated, I thought that I would inevitably go into school administration. Then I reflected that I could earn more if I went into business administration.
After earning my master’s in business administration, I went into business, first into sales and then into management. I recall sitting in my office on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills and reflecting. I had truly enjoyed my year of teaching and concluded that if I was fortunate enough to know what I enjoyed in life, that I would be a fool not to take advantage of it. So I returned to education.
Q: How did you come to develop this discipline system?
A: After experiences as a school counselor; assistant principal; and elementary, middle, and high school principal; and district director of education, I decided to spend my last few years doing what I enjoy most: classroom teaching.
I was out of the classroom for 24 years. Had society changed? When I returned to classroom teaching, I found parents afraid of their own children, too much disrespect to adults and a lack of responsible behavior in general. Schools weren’t teaching them to be responsible; they were just teaching them to be obedient. So I asked myself, “How can I promote social responsibility?”
I used my teaching, counseling, and administrative experiences to develop a proactive discipline program now used around the world. My presentations of the system have taken me to 44 of the United States and 20 countries on five continents.
Q: How did your experience at USC Rossier impact you professionally?
A: I re-entered the profession teaching in a middle school in West Los Angeles. Since teaching was going to be my lifelong career, I decided to learn as much as I could. My vice-principal said, “If you’re going to get a doctorate, you need to go to USC.”
I enrolled at USC and had some of the best classes I ever had in my college career – undergraduate or post-graduate. It was so practical. And chances are I never would have been a high school principal or a director of education without that doctorate.
Q: Why do you feel it is important to support USC Rossier?
A: I believe I have a moral obligation to give back to the institution from which I gained so much. One of the keys to life is gratitude, and those who are grateful are happy and good to others. People of the current generation owe it to future generations to share the benefits we have received. My entire life has been devoted to promoting responsibility, and giving back is the responsible thing to do.
To learn more about Marvin Marshall and his programs, visit www.MarvinMarshall.com.
