Sometimes, I hear some moments resounding in my head; those lashings, whippings, slaps, canes, and of-course those times getting into mischief. I cannot say I've become a better person because of that neither can I say otherwise. However, I want to share with you what we should think and care about it according to people around world along with my opinions. This post is not intended to hurt any feelings or any individual but for; if we can bring a change in our mind and ways we see/do things. And it is not also to show ill-gratitude and disrespects towards those great teachers(they are indeed our lights) and instructors but for a change-a better place!
Cambridge dictionary defines ‘Corporal punishment’ as,” the physical punishment of people, especially of children, by hitting them.”
For upbringing a child
is to correct them whenever they go in a wrong path. In order to have a better
citizen child should be trained and moulded. When said so, people might say it is fine to
take extreme actions (like corporal punishment) to prepare a child’s life
better. But, it’s not only the way children can be trained. Alternatives to
corporal punishment should be used, like emphasizing positive behaviors of students,
realistic rules consistently enforced, instruction that reaches all students,
conferences with students for planning acceptable behavior, parent/teacher
conferences about student behavior, use of staff such as school psychologists
and counselors, detentions, in-school suspension and Saturday school.
Corporal punishment is
usually an effective behavior deterrent. Corporal punishment definitely teaches
both right and wrong but, it has been observed that offenders may repeat the
punished behavior as soon as the authority figure is absent-indicating that it
is not an effective method. Whether practiced at home or in school, corporal
punishment may indeed result in short-term submissive behavior, but creates
anger and resentment that shift the focus away from genuine behavioral change. Those
people receiving punishment are more like to be instilled with rage and
hostility even into adulthood. There is a difference between FEAR &
Respect. Corporal punishment maintains order by the rule of fear. It does not
establish respect. Respect leads to order and harmony, fear leads to resentment
and disorder.
Some may state that discipline
is lacking in many schools, violence and classroom disorder interfere with
learning pretty regularly in the inner cities and thus reinstituting corporal
punishment might return some semblance of control. But, the administration of
corporal punishment invokes fear and the use of corporal punishment in schools
is intrinsically related to child maltreatment. It contributes to a climate of
violence, it implies that society approves of the physical violation of
children, thus it establishes an unhealthy norm. For corporal punishment to
typically continue working, more punishment, pain, or force maybe be necessary.
As a result, child abuse typically starts as corporal punishment.
It might be stated that
there might be better attendance, less tardiness, fewer suspensions, and better
academic performance if there is corporal punishment. But, 'a teacher does best
armed only with knowledge.' Corporal punishment is a cruel and obsolete weapon
which involves both physical and psychological torture. Corporal
punishment involving beating, flogging, spanking, and other forms of physical
torture which result to injuries, bruises, and broken bones. It not only
degrades human values but invokes/leave deep emotional scars and almost always
begets further violence. Increased cases of teachers being attacked at night, cars
and glasses being broken and many other forms of mischief are being done by
some pupils who want to avenge the teachers.
It may be argued that, as
soon as the student has been punished he can go back to his class and continue
learning, in contrast to out-of-school suspension, which removes him from the
educational process and gives him a free "holiday". And it saves
much staff time that would otherwise have been devoted to supervising detention
classes or in-school suspension, and managing the bureaucracy that goes with
these punishments. But, "There is nothing 'manly' about beating women.
There is nothing 'adult' about hitting children. Whether sanctioned or
capricious, all such violence really is cowardly activity. It betrays a person
who needs to invade someone else's dignity to feel important.”- Reverend
Dr. Thomas E. Sagendorf, retired United Methodist Church minister, Hammond IN. Corporal
punishment is an abuse of power. It is easy for teachers or parents to spank
children out of anger, and this presents a model of impulsive violence and lack
of self-control to children. It involves violence. It perpetuates a cycle of
child abuse. It teaches children to hit someone smaller and weaker when angry.
And it has been noted and observed that violent children almost always have
violent parents/teachers.
It may be stated that
there has been an increase in crime with banning of corporal punishment but we
cannot single handedly blame the banning of corporal punishment for the rapid
rise in crime. There are many factors, and there is nothing that definitively
shows that there is a link between the banning of corporal punishment and the
rise in crime. There are many things that have changed and the rise in crime is
a combination of some or maybe even all of these factors, things like increase
in population, increasing living expectations, the poor and the rich living in
a close proximity. We should not bring back corporal punishment on a whim that
it may possibly decrease the levels of crime.
References:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_corporal_punishment
- http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/138384/corporal-punishment
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment
- and some other related sites.
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