Disciplining a child can become a tedious task for parents and tutors. As a result, they believe that punishment is the most optimal way to eliminate a misbehavior. Paddling, spanking, and hitting are a small group of the harsh disciplinary practices used by adults. Such practices of physical punishment are currently allowed in public schools in the United States. Many people argue that a reasonable physical punishment on the children leads them to understand the consequences of misbehaving. However, the word “reasonable” is an ambiguous term utilized to diminish the meaning of such type of violence. Corporal punishment can be a momentarily disciplinary practice, which in the long term, severely, impacts the children. Researchers have said that children exposed to more corporal punishment tend to suffer certain psychological disturbances. Generally, they are more likely to develop mental health problems, low self-esteem, and antisocial behavior. Such issues make them become vulnerable and depressive leading them in the long term to drugs or alcohol abuse. Once the children reach their adulthood, they become extremely aggressive and the parent-child relationship gets substantially damaged. In the United states a large number of people believe that such disciplinary practice is no longer present in our public schools’ system. According to a letter recently written by John B. King Jr., U.S. Secretary of Education, “twenty-two states still allow corporal punishment in school:
Corporal punishment teaches kids to be respectful. In source A it is said “ Kids at the school sat the paddle definitely think twice about acting up’’ With this being saidis shows that the kids being hit with the paddle makes them never want to act up again so they do not get hit. In source A it is also said that John C. Calhoun Elementary earned three statewide awards. The kids began to be more respectful and it changed the school for the better. It was also said in source A “ There will always be new kids who need to learn the limits at school. ” Having corporal punishment will teach the kids the limits and they will learn to be more respectful.
When it comes to disciplining children there are many different schools of thought and beliefs of what is right and wrong. These different opinions have been reviewed, discussed and argued by many different adults including parents, teachers, psychologists, and lawmakers. Every day parents must make decisions on what they believe is ethically and morally right when they discipline their children. Corporal punishment is one such decision. By definition, corporal punishment is “the infliction of physical pain upon a person’s body as punishment for a crime or infraction” (Encyclopedia, 2015). In a more general sense of the term, it refers to the physical disciplining of children.
Did you know that Corporal Punishment is legal in 21 states in the united states, but not in the other 29 states, and it’s only used in 13 of those 21 states. I believe that Corporal Punishment should be allowed in every state in the united states because, it helps kids learn better, it takes stress of teachers, and it teaches kids discipline.
My husband tells the tales of discipline and punishment during his childhood. His father, mother, and grandparents routinely enforced strict rules with harsh punishment such as being struck with a belt or switch. I have heard similar stories of near-beatings from my African American friends through the years. African American comedians regularly incorporate a history of corporal punishment into their stand-up routines. My African American high school students also tell of parents with harsh consequences for disobeying. I want to know why African American families implement corporal punishment seemingly more often than white families. If behavior standards are so high and punishment so harsh, are black students more successful?
Child discipline is an important part of parenthood. It is challenging for adults to manage children’s behaviors and find the correct lessons that will benefit their children. According to the research performed by Flynn (1998), most parents in the United States agree that "it is sometimes necessary to discipline a child with a good, hard spanking" (p.26). Socolar et al. performed research which agreed that “corporal punishment of children persists—roughly fifty percent of the parents of toddlers in the United States use corporal punishment as a regular method of disciplining their children.” (as cited in Gershoff, 2010, p.32). That is not to say that physical punishment is the solution as it can stop a behavior immediately but the results
Living in the twenty-first century you rarely ever see someone spank their child or hear the word spank come out of a parent’s mouth. I see too many parents today that are too self-righteous to “spank” their children, because many people see spanking as form of abuse. Many parents in today’s world use more reasonable punishments for their misbehaving children. Some parents put their children in time-outs, deny them of their freedom, take toys away and ground them. I have seen parents use these methods because there are more reasonable ways of punishing their child for being disobedient. However, not everybody in today’s world uses these methods for punishing children; some parents use the act of spanking for punishment. Spanking was a popular punishment back in the 1900s, but is a very debatable topic in today’s society.
Many states have banned educators’ use of corporal punishment either by law or state regulation. In 1971, only one state prohibited corporal punishment; as of 2017, twenty-eight states and D.C. proscribed its use. Generally, when state law and school board policy permit corporal punishment, courts have upheld its reasonable administration and have placed the burden on the aggrieved students to prove otherwise. In evaluating the reasonableness of a teacher’s actions in administering corporal punishment, courts have assessed the child’s age, maturity, and past behavior; the nature of the offense; the instrument used; any evidence of lasting harm to the child; and the motivation of the person inflicting the
In 2013, Adrian Peterson, a Minnesota Vikings running back, faced felony charges and indicted by a jury with reckless injury of a child (Goessling). This incident sparked controversy on the topic of where the line is drawn between discipline and abuse. Oxford dictionary defines corporal punishment as: “physical punishment, such as caning or flogging.” On one hand, many parents argue that spanking or other corporal punishments are not abusive because it teaches respect and consequences for bad behavior. However, on the other hand, others maintain that spanking and other corporal punishments are harmful because it does not teach respect but instead inspires fear in the child and does not effectively teach them what they did wrong or what they did to deserve such punishment. Seeing both sides of the argument, I argue that the line between abuse and discipline is crossed when the punishment causes damage to the child, whether physical or psychological. I would go on to argue that spanking and other corporal punishments are not ideal because it does not show the child what he or she did wrong, can escalate into harsher punishment and borderline abuse, and has been shown to not be effective and can actually cause more behavioral problems in children.
When considering the effectiveness of corporal punishment, it is important to take into consideration the effects that it has on whole populations rather than just one case. Jared Pingleton, a clinical psychologist and a minister writes in an article for Focus on the Family as an appeal for the necessity of corporal punishment, “Many parents today view themselves primarily as their child’s friend and recoil at the idea of administering discipline. Children, though, desperately need their parents’ love and affirmation as well as their authoritative guidance and correction”. (Pingleton, 2014) This way of thinking about discipline is very important regardless of whether corporal discipline is used, but the use of spanking is often the most immediately effective way of conveying this message. Pingleton suggests in his step by step guide to carrying out discipline that when a parent approaches spanking properly, it can create a lasting sense of love and respect between the parent and the child. Spanking is used around the world to influence child development, and although it has many positives, it is also necessary to examine its’ alternatives.
While reading Cleverley & Phillips ' Visions of Childhood I found that many views of the past relating to corporal punishment have changed significantly. During my readings I read things that instantly stood out to me. The first being how many issues and their solutions revolved around religion. John Wesley, was the founder of the Methodist Movement, and he believed that children were born with sin and that it was the parental duty to discipline the unruly child, starting at an early age. During this time period, corporal punishment was a common practice. Wesley used reference to the Bible verse in Proverbs to declare, “Spare the rod, spoil the child”, (Cleverly and Phillips, 1986) in turn parents believed they were doing God’s will with their harsh punishments.
There has been a study that 90% of parents who have toddlers spank or use some other form of corporal punishment, which is outrageous. Even though the numbers have declined form the age of five, in the article it states that adults still remember being punished in their teen age years. It goes into detail of how the mistreatment of children can really harm them without the care giver really putting much thought to it. The generality of the situation puts children at harm and they are trying to conduct studies to show that corporal punishment leads to a risk of developing mental health and social relationships later in their life. Also they can have an increased risk of having depression, suicidal thoughts, alcohol abuse, physical abuse of their own children, and also can lead to wife beating. It really shows how corporal punishment puts the child at
We will find in the spanked kids a physical and verbal form of aggression against others: classmate, family members, friends etc… it is like an expression of all frustration accumulated by spanked and frustrated child. Another study published in the Akron Law Review examined criminal records and found that children raised where a legal ban on parental corporal punishment is in effect are much more likely to be involved in crime. When kids and spanked or abuse in their childhood are spanked, they develop a hatred. The immediate consequence in their adolescence is physical aggression. It is the most common in the adolescent behavior and are likely to result in physical injury. The most extreme form of violence is a homicide. Thus, fights involving weapons and fights by teenagers old enough to be able to inflict serious injuries are what see in the street every day. So finally spanked kids destroy them more than it help them to behave as parents would like to. It is why it is better to choose a different way to help kids to understand and to learn what is acceptable and what is not. In fact Dozens of countries have banned parental corporal punishment, such as Germany, Italy, and in 2007 New Zealand, which use force to correct children causes complete criminal penalties, and where the mother cannot even legally take the hand of her child to bring it where it refuses to go. And according to Krisha McCoy, discipline is a way of teaching children the restraint and values necessary to become competent and independent adults. When our child behaves negatively, the best way to teach him the positive behavior should be for example to explain what is wrong in his behavior, then explain or show with examples what is better to do. Also and the explanation of the reasons of positive behaviors regarding others, environments, society, laws, rules. And the consequences of “not doing this way” or of “doing
Many studies have come out with negative effects that can come about from using many forms of corporal punishment. As parents we need to ask ourselves are we able to control ourselves when we are upset at our kids? Are we able to be fair to our kids? Can the things we do to our children come back and turn out to be used against us and others? “Corporal punishment
The world has changed in many different ways, but there are still things that need to be changed for the better. Corporal punishment is one of those things. All around the world, corporal punishment is affecting children in many ways. It is described as a form of discipline that hurts a child in a way and is used both in homes and schools. It has been going on for years upon years and very few people try to stop it. People believe corporal punishment is good for children, but there have been so many negative outcomes that other people argue against it. Although some people believe that corporal punishment helps improve a child’s behavior, corporal punishment should not be used because it could be used excessively and it is ineffective.
Discipline is one of the basic things a child learns from his parents before he or she faces the outside world to learn more about life as a whole. Teaching this trait can depend on how the parent shows it to their child and how they explain the importance of having this trait both in and out of their homes. Misbehaving children cannot be avoided as they are curious little beings and they have a tendency to explore. But there are some parents, even teachers, who do not tolerate misbehaving and they resort to corporal punishments such as spanking to make sure the child never forgets how painful it is to misbehave as they will remember the punishment entailed to it and become more disciplined. However, not all children would understand the