What are some cons of corporal punishment (paddling, etc) in the classroom?

Question

I have to be in a debate and so far I've come up with: hinders the teacher/student relationship, creates fear in the classroom, teaches violence to students, and adds to possible abuse from home. Can you think of anything else? I want to be prepared.

Answer 1

Depends on the target area:

Buttocks are potentially a sexual area for children of all ages - and indeed the VERY signigicant number of people (mainly males) who anjoy SM in later life, learnt their interest from being caned/paddled at school.

On the hands (ruler etc) there are way to many tiny bones and joints - and real damage is possible.

As another person has correctly pointed out, there is a humiliation problem. The folks that think this is a GOOD thing (part of the punishment etc) need to think harder. People (especially bullies) who are humiliated, almost always then lash out again afterwards to "regain control".

This is one reason why adult males in the UK and US at one time, were punished on the back - not a sexual area, no real humiliation value in taking the shirt off and no little tiny bones to break. Using a flexible intstrument (leather rope cord) would do no harm to the spine/ribs and providing only middle/upper back was struck, no vulnerable organs (protected by ribs). The film floggings are unrealistic in their goryness - a flogged man often had little more than "razor nicks" type cuts. Rope does not cut very well :)

I am not proposing that this is a suitable way of punishing children incidentally (though for the religious followers, it was the only way prescribed - King Solomen and his rod for the back etc), I mentioned this just to illustrate that there ARE problems percevied in wacking children on their behinds / hands / elsewhere and historically the same problem existed with adults.

Answer 2

Here is a good title: THE HISTORY OF CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: A Survey of Flagellation in its Historical, Anthropological and Sociological Aspects
by George Ryley Scott

Ryley Scott's thesis is that humans are fundamentally driven to assert power and control over their fellows, and that they will always express this power and control in an ungoverned, sadistic manner. To amplify the problem, he says, many humans readily accept this dominance in a masochistic manner, thus providing a moral and legal basis for the infliction of CP.

The result is a proliferation of rampant cruelty and sadism throughout all the ages of human history and in all societies across the globe. Since these impulses to power and cruelty are basic to the human nature, he argues, all forms of CP should be completely abolished.

Also, we don't want to repeat the cruelties of the past. What about dignity - it's degrading and psychologically damaging...or the moral question about CP - sometimes teaches the wrong lesson... Besides, it shows the teachers do not have new strategies to keep up with the times, nor authority (I mean real authority) It indicates that the teacher has failed to discourage pupil wrongdoing in other ways -- by moral authority, by a system of rewards, or by milder punishments. The theacher may not have the ability or the inclination verbally to communicate expectations to children.
How about mutual respect ?

Answer 3

1. it is not the teacher's place to correct a child in that way. it belongs to the parent.
2. only those who love you will practice it with kindness and to build character. teachers do not love you.
3. It probably doesn't work after the age of 8 or 9 and it builds resentment instead.
4. it is far better to reason with someone who is mature, rather than hit.
5. who would know what the cut off age is for corporal punishment? What if I thought it should end at 15, but you thought it should end at 20, how would we know who was right? If we use it in school, then why not in the workplace? What makes it right in school but not in the workplace? Who says it won' work for adults as well? Who decides?

Answer 4

Bullets from irate parents can be a con...

some people believe that this type of punishment is child abuse...

my parents would NEVER allow a school to punish me (but they did let them punish my brothers and sisters) because I was much more sensitive than my siblings.. If I needed to be punished, the school was required to inform my parents and THEY would punish me, NOT the school.. I was much more fragile (being allergic to dairy products) and the school did not know this...

In the military... Punish in private, praise in public works good.

Answer 5

I stay in Alabama, and paddling is technically nevertheless legal right here, yet distinctive the faculty districts (a minimum of interior the portion of the state that i'm in) have desperate themselves to get rid of it. it quite is not practiced in my district. there is in easy terms one close by district i recognize of that still does it, yet they do might desire to have parental consent. I dont have infants yet yet i might by no potential enable my little one to be paddled or spanked in any respect by potential of somebody else. Any style of physicaly self-discipline is the mummy and father' job. I have been given by using college merely large with out ever having to be paddled. Even my mom and father rarely ever had to spank (and by potential of spank I advise a hand swat to the backside, no longer a beating with an merchandise). So i do no longer think of it quite is in many cases had to bodily punish a little one.

Answer 6

could possibly lower self-esteem due to embarrassment in front of peers