To deal with behavior problems and create safe environments, schools increasingly have adopted social control practices. These include discipline and classroom management practices that analysts see as blaming the victim and modeling behavior that fosters, rather than counters, the development of negative values. To move beyond overreliance on punishment and social control strategies, there is ongoing advocacy of social skills training and new agenda for emotional skills training and character education. The suppression of undesired acts does not necessarily lead to desired behavior. Programs to improve social skills and interpersonal problem solving have been described as having promise both for prevention and correction, but studies to date indicate that only a limited range of skills have been acquired and that the generalizability and maintenance of these skills have been poor. Beyond discipline and skills training, there is a need to address the roots of misbehavior and the underlying motivational bases for such behavior. The aims of programs to address motivational issues are to: (1) prevent and overcome negative attitudes toward schools and learning; (2) enhance motivational readiness for learning and overcoming problems; (3) maintain intrinsic motivation throughout learning and problem solving; and (4) nurture the type of continuing motivation that results in students engaging in activities away from school that foster the maintenance, generalization, and expansion of learning and problem solving. Alternative strategies to improve motivation should create greater feelings of self-determination, competence, and relatedness than usually result from the youngsters' deviant actions. (Contains 16 references.) (SLD)