Corporal Punishment

Loke Fullbuster

Loke Fullbuster

The Language Enthusiast
Well thr topic came up yesterday and I wanted to say how I felt about it. I'm 14 so I have fresh experience. And plus I get really heated about this topic and would like to have a nice discussion.
 
Corporal punishment should be legal I think, but it should be reserved for the real troublemakers, the ones who start fights, insult teachers etc... give em the belt!


When I was in school about 4 or so years ago, there were plenty of guys and girls who treated school like a joke and hated the teachers, I think if they were physically taught respect and that their actionshave consequences they wouldn't be homeless drug addicts today (seriously if you can't handle teachers, then a boss will tear you apart xD
 
There are 21 states in the USA in which corporal punishment in the classroom is legal. Where it is legal for a teacher to beat a child with a wooden board, hard, enraising large bruises, blisters and breaking the skin. Hundreds of thousands of children are, incidentally, subjected to this every year. The locations of these 'enlightened' districts will fail to suprise you (south).


The rationale for this behaviour is explicitally religious. The creator of the universe himself has told us not to spare the rod lest we spoil the child. This is in proverbs 13, 20 and I believe 23.


But we can ask the obvious question. Is it a good idea, generally speaking, to subject children to pain, and violence, and public humiliation as a way of encouraging healthy emotional development and good behaviour?


Is there any doubt that this question has an answer and that it matters?


I am going to say no to both. I can understand @bettsyboy's point, but that's often to blame on far too lenient parents. If the nurture across the board, home, school and in sports, is proper there will never be need to resort to violence to correct behaviour. In fact, I believe that the true effect of spanking is psychological, and most surrogates for corporal punishment speak directly to a child's psychology. Far more effective and far healthier.
 
[QUOTE="Loke Fullbuster]I myself am 14 so my opinion is very biased.

[/QUOTE]
And what is your opinion?
 
I think it sucks. I still get spanked by my father and it hurts so bad. Yea it can mess with a child's mind but that's not always the case. Yes it hurts, but it is something that is necessary. Not all the time, but sometimes. What bothers me most is that it seems to me like parents use it to instill fear into a child. I know I am so indecisive but that's because I'm undecided.
 
Damn. I am sorry to hear that. I am not going to judge your dad but I would never spank my child and if I am hearing you, I think you won't either. Have you ever told him that you think it's bad?
 
Macaberz said:
There are 21 states in the USA in which corporal punishment in the classroom is legal. Where it is legal for a teacher to beat a child with a wooden board, hard, enraising large bruises, blisters and breaking the skin. Hundreds of thousands of children are, incidentally, subjected to this every year. The locations of these 'enlightened' districts will fail to suprise you (south).
The rationale for this behaviour is explicitally religious. The creator of the universe himself has told us not to spare the rod lest we spoil the child. This is in proverbs 13, 20 and I believe 23.


But we can ask the obvious question. Is it a good idea, generally speaking, to subject children to pain, and violence, and public humiliation as a way of encouraging healthy emotional development and good behaviour?


Is there any doubt that this question has an answer and that it matters?


I am going to say no to both. I can understand @bettsyboy's point, but that's often to blame on far too lenient parents. If the nurture across the board, home, school and in sports, is proper there will never be need to resort to violence to correct behaviour. In fact, I believe that the true effect of spanking is psychological, and most surrogates for corporal punishment speak directly to a child's psychology. Far more effective and far healthier.
Click to expand...
I never meant it like "I support beating and humiliation"


And I agree it's really the parent's fault when there are troubled children, almost no parents today are willing to apply "tough love" to their child, there are some times when that isn't done the kid stays good, instead of getting caught up in gangs or drugs they get caught up in D&D and progressively get nerdier and nerdier, but of course we're not referring to those.


Spanking and corporal punishment should never be about humiliating and beating, it should instill the acknowledgement that actions have consequences, if you steal from people you should be punished, if you just hear about actions and consequences but never experience it, you'll end up doing worse and worse things, when I was 6, I snuck into and stole from one of my neighbor's houses, they were a young couple, about my current age at the time (21) and the woman was pregnant with their first child, as punishment I was spanked heavily by my mother, grounded in my room for the rest of the day, and early the following day I was taken to the neighbour's house and made to give back what I took and apologize, a spanking and a shaming from my parents and taking responsibility for my actions, no humiliation, no bruises, but I learned my lesson.


guess what? I never stole anything again and I learned to respect other's property (unless you include downloading things for free)


better spank your kid when they're 6, than let them go to prison till they're 60, don't just grit your teeth at those spankings, think on them, because trust me the teenage years are the easiest of your life, think your dad and teachers are hard? wait till you get a boss xD


but seriously, I think your dad is hard on you because he loves you and wants you to grow up into a respectful young man unlike the screaming self-righteous hippies you see polluting university campuses who've never been told to respect others or do anything hard in their lives.


I know it sucks, trust me I know SO WELL! and I know you no doubt hear this on a daily basis but unlike you might think, it's true, do your homework, don't cheat, play sports, get into as many clubs as you can find, because once you're finished school, the knowledge you'll retain from homework will give you an edge, playing sports will keep you fit and healthy as well as giving you lots of friends, and by joining many clubs you make yourself look more appealing to employers and without knowing it, you'll have yourself a network of contacts all over the place who can show a little positive bias your way and really get your foot in the door at a lot more places, and with the world as it is, you'll need all the contacts you can get.
 
The problem I have with your argument bettsy, is that you're implying a direct correlation between not being spanked and turning into a "screaming self-righteous hippie"


The map is not the territory. You might have been confronted by a bunch of self-righteous hippies who you happen to know of (or more likely, who you are assuming) to have never been spanked, but that doesn't mean that one is directly correlated to the other. What is more likely is that you simply stumbled upon a bunch of people who annoyed the heel out of you who you then learned where never spanked. My point is that there is no objective correlation between the two, it only exists in what you've experienced this far.


Bestowing violence up a child doesn't strike me as a good way to teach them right from wrong. It's imposing wrong on them violence in the hope that they'll be too scared to do something bad again.


It's a scare tactic and a bad one at that.


The "your dad is hard on you because he loves you" argument follows the same backward line of reasoning as Christian mumbo-jumbo whereon you're told that God is hard on you but loves you. I think the term tough love is bullshit. Love is expressing affection unconditionally, tough love is putting a condition (you must do as I wish) on love.


But I digress. How does one justify the infliction of pain and humiliation on a child as a good and healthy way to raise them as balanced individuals? I am not saying that everyone who was spanked turns out to be an emotional wreck, not at all! But neither do non-spanked children turn out to be hippies.


Not everyone's a hippie in The Netherlands yet spanking is forbidden by law and falls under child abuse.
 
Its not that bad. I just think I am put off by the fact that my step dad and is a really cool dude but when I get in trouble its all over. For example we went to go see Mount Rushmore and me and his son decided to stay at the hotel. I was 13 at the time, his son was 16. So they leave and me and my soon to be step brother were playing video games when an argument turned into physical fighting. Well I ended up hitting my head and my parents came home. They were so pissed. We were grounded for the rest of the trip. So when we were driving to his house he was like "Both of you go to my room, I will be up in a minute." My step bother goes "Why." And he yells at us and says. "Just go." So we wait and he talks to us about the incident. Long story short he starts unbuckling his belt and ask who's first and we were like what. He said" You have to be punished for what you did." So my big brother went first and I had to watch. It was terrible. He was blubbering like a baby. I was like"If he is 16 and acted like that then what about me." My suspicions were confirmed. It hurt so bad. I was screaming. But afterwards he gave us a hug and talked to us. He also said to expect it the same every time we fight. We have never fought again. We have even grown closer. So yea.
 
And besides I live in the south. In my state as long as you aren't 18 and it isn't deadly then its allowed as long as its a parent or teacher.
 
Right.. Here's the thing. I don't get the American/Western methods of bringing up. But I grew up in a typical Indian overachieving family. No high scores and you get hit. No prizes in competitions and you get hit. Talking back gets more hits. And if you hadn't noticed, I'm a girl. We get scolded, yelled at, beaten up black and blue.... and loved. I don't think it is true in all families, but despite being abusive, I know my parents want me to be the best there can be. I know it is only out of this thought that they hit me. I know that it hurts THEM when they hit me. I know my thought process isn't very rational, but then again, I don't know about the American/Western methods of child rearing. But I know that if I can't deal with my own parents hitting me, there is no way I can deal with the verbal abuse that I may face in the future from strangers. That will be even more traumatic if you can't just take the pain that is given out of love. For I believe that most parents, mine included, love their children and only want them to grow up to be strong, successful adults. But then again, that is just me.
 
I grew up in an Italian-American household. What does that mean? That means the only people you feared more than Dad was Grandma and Papa. My Dad would hit me if I was a true idiot, like when he found out I was stealing from teachers desks at school. He was tough but fair. My Papa would hit you for a little less, like when I talked back. My Grandma, i.e. the worst of the three, had an instrument that still instills fear into me to this very day (I'm exaggerating here. Mostly.). Whenever she, and that's the key word, deemed I misbehaved, she would drag me into the kitchen and pull out the old, brown stained wooden spoon. You could try to block if you wanted to, but that just made it last longer, and she always found an opening. I still think she has that spoon somewhere in her new kitchen. Anyway, my opinion on corporal punishment is that, like most things, it is perfectly fine in moderation. You don't hit your kid for walking in front of your T.V., and you don't pummel them into the E.R. A few good smacks when they mess up, then explain yourself. That's it. It's how my family did it, and more than likely how I would do it if I had kids. More like my Dad, though. I'm not as effective with kitchen utensils.
 
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