Corporal Punishment in Schools
I wrote this paper for Contemporary Moral Issues class. This was an assignment of our choice and I chose to do this topic, because the week before in Intro to Education we had discussed discipline methods and I was astonished to learn that corporal punishment still existed in schools. I am hoping that by including this piece of work on my webfolio others will become aware that corporal punishment is alive and used often in our schools.
In the following paper I will discuss the controversial issue of the use of corporal punishment in schools. Supporters for corporal punishment say that it is a deterrent to misbehavior and delinquency, is needed to maintain discipline, and is not a form of child abuse. The position against corporal punishment says that it is of limited effectiveness, has potentially serious side effects, is a form of child abuse, and should be abolished in all schools. I think the position against corporal punishment should become the social or public policy. Corporal punishment should not be used as a form of discipline, because it leaves psychological and physical harm on children.
The first key argument against corporal punishment that I will present is the argument that corporal punishment is a form of child abuse. The Policy Statement of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry states, "corporal punishment is a discipline method in which a supervising adult deliberately inflicts pain upon a child in response to a child's unacceptable behavior and/or inappropriate language" (1). If one is deliberately inflicting pain on another, then that is for sure a form of abuse. Many students are physically and psychologically assaulted...
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Discipline." American Academy of Pediatrics 101 (April 1998) Database on-line. Available from ERIC, American Academy of Pediatrics. 1.
Flynn, Clifton P. "Exploring the link between corporal punishment and children's cruelty to animals." Journal of Marriage and Family 61 (November 1999). Database on-line. Available from ProQuest. 3.
Hyman, Irwin A. "Using research to change public policy: reflections on 20 years of efforts to eliminate corporal punishment in schools." Pediatrics 98 (October 1996). Database on-line. Available from ProQuest, Expanded Academic ASAP. 2-4.
Hyman, Irwin A. and Pamela A. Shook. Dangerous Schools: What We Can Do about the
Physicaland Emotional Abuse of Our Children. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass,
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Dupper, David R. , and Amy E. Montgomery Dingus. "Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools : A Continuing Challenge for School Social Workers." Schools and Children 30.4 (2008): 243-250. Print.
...violent offenders as it may teach them that the way to let out dissatisfaction is by physically abusing others. Allowing corporal punishment may open the door to other brutal and torturous methods of criminal control which may inevitably lead to violation of ones rights.
With this in mind, many writers have contended that we revisit corporal punishment. These authors include Peter Moskos and Jeff Jacoby. In their works, they both argue for the reintroduction of corporal punishment, i.e. flogging, in society. Within the contents of Peter Moskos’ book, In Defense of Flogging, the author proposes an alternative
The general acceptance, and sometimes support, of corporal punishment as a method of discipline is an aspect of the American culture (Barnett, Miller-Perrin, Perrin 61).
Nonetheless, considers spanking an outcome with dysfunctional mental and physical health issues that roots from often harsh spankings (Kazdin and Benjet, 2003). If parents were set to believe corporal punishment leads to the development of mental issues or physical aggression with peers solving conflicts (Taylor et al.,2016). If the world knew what corporal punishment actually does parents would seek a different approach. Most parents think the views of their children is a reflection of how they are being raised, which supports why this article argument is stronger. Another reason this article is stronger argument is because of how severe the logical fallacies are with in “Spanking and Children’s Externalizing Behavior Across the First Decade of Life:” Even so, the article did provide some strong points as well by recognizing the limitations the studies bring with parents by relying on their responses to general questions about spanking.
There are government agencies, laws, and policies in place for most states that outline the proper way to utilize corporal punishment. When these laws are followed, children should be safe in most circumstances when they are treated with corporal punishment. There will always be a risk of child abuse because of the way some people in today’s society don’t value life, but I don’t believe this is a result of spanking, nor a reason to outlaw the right to discipline a child by corporal punishment.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The belief that corporal punishment should be banned is sensible in order to protect the wellbeing of children, as well to do justice onto those who do not recognize the mental and physical damage it does to their victims.
While the practice of corporal punishment is still valid in some parts of the world it has become a dishonorable custom in other parts, especially in the West. Many parents have argued in favor for such kind of punishment by claiming that it is a quick and efficient way to achieve “immediate compliance” and discipline their children. Corporal punishment still stands as an everyday approach to ensuring discipline for the children. “Interviews conducted in 2000 for the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY, 2002) indicated that of all the parents of 3-year-olds, 51.6% reported that they had used corporal punishment in the past week, and 35.9% of parents of 4 and 5-year-olds reported that they had used corporal punishment in the same time period.”
A young boy slowly makes his way to his mom, her scream urging him forward. He is almost to her side when he sees the shadow of her belt, he slowly backs away, he does not go far, as she quickly grabs him by his shirt. She then start to beat his hands with the belt, and then turns him around and starts spanking him on the behind. Throughout the whole time, the young boy’s eyes reflect fear, pain, and anger. Such corporal punishment is also known as spanking, beating, whipping, hitting, and sometimes even abuse. Although not all parents’ enforce corporal punishment to this extent, the reality of corporal punishment is that it should be the parents’ last resort. Parents should be aware of the negative effects of corporal punishment. Parents should exercise caution before turning to spanking as a form of discipline because of the negative impact it can have on a child’s social, emotional, academic, and behavioral development.
In the 21st century, the different researchers and scholars have pointed out on the negative impacts of corporal punishment among the kids. They have reported that this form of punishment brings about more aggressive behavior, depression, anxiety, anti-social behavior and disobedience among the kids. This paper will present on both sides of the argument on whether spanking should be made legal or illegal. Why spanking should be illegal Scholars in the academic field have pointed out that spanking does not solve the problems
Contrary to popular belief, corporal punishment is still an accepted form of punishment in some countries. In these countries, many see this kind of punishment for children as normal, natural and harmless. Yet, human rights activists believe that it is damaging and must be stopped. For example, Gambian teachers are working to end corporal punishment. The Gambia Teachers' Union has been training teachers on alternative...
Smith, B. L. (2012). The case against spanking. American Psychological Association, 43(4), 60. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/04/spanking.aspx
“It hurts and it’s painful inside – it’s like breaking your bones; it’s loud and sore, and it stings; it feels like you’ve been adopted or something and you’re not part of their family; you feel like you don’t like your parents anymore; you feel upset because they are hurting you, and you love them so much, and then all of a sudden they hit you and you feel as though they don’t care about you” (Pritchard 9). These are the feelings of those juveniles who suffer from corporal punishment. Corporal punishment has been one of the main topics of research in Psychology in last few decades. Although people had believed, “Spare the rod and spoil the child” but in the present age of science, research has revealed that the corporal punishment causes more harm to the children instead of having a positive effect on them. According to UNICEF, “Corporal punishment is actually the use of physical measures that causes pain but no wounds, as a means of enforcing discipline” (1). It includes spanking, squeezing, slapping, pushing and hitting by hand or with some other instruments like belts etc. But it is different from physical abuse in which punishment result in wounds and the objective is different from teaching the discipline. Although Corporal punishment is considered to be a mode of teaching discipline and expeditious acquiescence, however, it leads to the disruption of parent-child relationship, poor mental health of juveniles, moral internalization along with their anti-social and aggressive behaviour and it is against the morality of humans.
Secondly, corporal punishment in schools should not be permitted is because it can lead to harmful effects in a student’s health. Because according to Science Daily “a child in a school that uses corporal punishment has performed worst in tasks involving executive functioning-- such as, for example: planning, abstract thinking, and delaying gratification.” In addition, according to Social Development, “harshly punitive environm...
Corporal punishment means to educate by implement of physical pain on learners in order to enhance their ability of studying. As we know, students will often follow the instructions which given by their instructor. However, if they don’t, many instructors are likely to introduce the corporal punishment such as hitting, slapping, spanking and kicking rather than promotes the oral education method to force their students to have a better performance. Gradually, corporal punishment have become a widely known phenomenon all over the world. According to the Department of Education’s 2006 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), it clearly showed that a total of 223,190 students without disabilities received corporal punishment in that year around the