Should corporal punishment be re-introduced in schools?

Question

Especially in elementary schools you have a bunch of kids running around pumped full of ridalin and other medication. Why not just bring back the belt. Sure they might get red wrists but honostly, how much damage is done? My parents/grandparent/great grandparents all turned out fine. After all there was no such thing as ADD/ADHD in 1950.

Answer 1

If you care, you will look at the evidence. If your child had a fever, you would ask what medical science says should be done. Why would you put any less faith in what their research says about corporal punishment?

Every single national pediatric, psychological and psychiatric organisation in the entire western world, without a single exception, says that corporal punishment is bad for children. Period. Don't take my word for it. Look it up for yourself.

Just as a small sample:

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) claims that "Corporal punishment is of limited effectiveness and has potentially deleterious side effects. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents be encouraged and assisted in the development of methods other than spanking for managing undesired behavior." The policy statement points out, summarizing several studies, that "The more children are spanked, the more anger they report as adults, the more likely they are to spank their own children, the more likely they are to approve of hitting a spouse, and the more marital conflict they experience as adults. Spanking has been associated with higher rates of physical aggression, more substance abuse, and increased risk of crime and violence when used with older children and adolescents."

The American Psychological Association opposes the use of corporal punishment in schools, juvenile facilities, child care nurseries, and all other institutions, public or private, where children are cared for or educated. They state that corporal punishment is violent, unnecessary, may lower self-esteem, is likely to train children to use physical violence, and is liable to instill hostility and rage without reducing the undesired behavior.

The Canadian Pediatrics Society policy on corporal punishment states "The Psychosocial Paediatrics Committee of the Canadian Paediatric Society has carefully reviewed the available research in the controversial area of disciplinary spanking... The research that is available supports the position that spanking and other forms of physical punishment are associated with negative child outcomes. The Canadian Paediatric Society, therefore, recommends that physicians strongly discourage disciplinary spanking and all other forms of physical punishment"

England's Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and Royal College of Psychiatrists have called for a complete ban on all corporal punishment, stating "We believe it is both wrong and impracticable to seek to define acceptable forms of corporal punishment of children. Such an exercise is unjust. Hitting children is a lesson in bad behaviour.".

The Australian Psychological Society holds that physical punishment of children should not be used as it has very limited capacity to deter unwanted behavior, does not teach alternative desirable behavior, often promotes further undersirable behaviors such as defiance and attachment to "delinquent" peer groups, encourages an acceptance of aggression and violence as acceptable responses to conflicts and problems.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. Every single national pediatric, psychological and psychiatric organization in the entire western world without a single exception says not to do it. You trust science to cure your body, so why would you ignore what it says about your child's mind.

Also, if anyone doubts that spanking is a sexual activity, just invest one minute to google the word "spank" and see how many sex sites you turn up. Heck, you can just enter the word "spank" in the "search for questions" bar at the top of your screen right now and see how many perverted questions you get. Do you really want a stranger to do something with your child that such a huge proportion of adults do for sexual fun? Do you really think that pedophiles have too much honour to use this as an oportunity to spank your children for sexual reasons?

Answer 2

When I was at school, it was done only by the Head Man, after due deliberation, etc, etc, with a gym shoe, before witnesses. I never got it, which says how often it was used, but the possibility existed. There was a small "macho" clique of lads who used to show off about it, and that's the danger. One collected some seventy-odd before he was finally expelled. Most accepted the punishment and tried never to get done again. The humiliation is generally more painful than the physical pain. If you've got children, you've noticed that there often comes a point, if you try to demonstrate verbally what they did wrong, where they simply tune you out. If there is no way to make contact verbally, at least this way does make contact another way! I don't think it does the harm that some people say; in fact, I believe it can do a great deal of good if administered with due precaution.

Answer 3

Yes, but only up to 6th grade and only after parental notification prior to each offense.

I honestly believe that the downfall of America - and the eventual downfall of civilization started when the hippy liberals from the mid-60's San Fransisco took over leadership positions around the country. They changed the rules to their liking, not ever stopping to think what the consequences might be. It was the hippy generation liberals that banned corpral punishment, along with other things like banning physical punishment in military bootcamp, frivolous lawsuits, social programs rivaling communism, etc.

We need to get back to the way things are to save our children!

Answer 4

Corporal punishment is long term ineffective power struggle. Many of the ADHD problems not addressed in 19550's but swept under the rug with clubs, became the thugs as soon as they got stronger than their clubbers.

Answer 5

oh my with the relaxed atmosphere of some parents these day I think they should be able to physical punish children that need it and dont get the disipline they need at home . And I totally agree with you ,my kids got physically disaplined at home and never had one problem from them and now they are 23 and 25 . good luck .

Answer 6

No but in the home, to a less extent than accepted in the 30's, and more than 20th centry. It is a thick line.

Answer 7

No. There are some teachers who are extremely skilled at controlling children, and a lot who suck. Instead of beating children, they should train teachers better. The ineptitude of a lot of American teachers is terrible.

Answer 8

no, violence only begets violence