Corporal punishment

I was shocked to find out in this story today that corporal punishment is active in 20 states:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/28/education/30paddle.html?_r=1&hp

I recall being in elementary school and seeing kids come back crying from getting paddled. I don't know whether it was because of the physical pain inflicted or the emotional humiliation. Or a little of both. Following the NYT link, I see that the state I grew up in remains one of two that permits broad use of corporal punishment. That's embarrassing, although I'm not sure how many school systems actually use it any more. Could be mostly a dead letter. There's also a list on the linked site of countries that don't permit corporal punishment in schools, many of them third-world or Middle Eastern (in fairness to the U.S., I'm not sure our federal government has the constitutional authority to take this on). Some nations, including our president's native Kenya, have banned corporal punishment in the home, as well.

I can't imagine how I would feel if some other person laid a finger on my child. There's an anecdote in the piece about a student who passed out from the pain and broke his jaw falling down. I'd want to kill somebody, honestly.

I remember taking the occasional beating from my father growing up, and it was pretty traumatic. It did nothing positive for me, particularly since he mostly did it in anger, not in any controlled fashion. It was chaos when the belt came off, and I still cringe at the memory - not just about the physical pain, but how out of control everything became during those terrifying moments.

I will never lay a finger on my children with the intention of causing pain. So help any one else who does.

I suspect others here may disagree, and I'd be interested to hear their thoughts (school and home corporal punishment).

 

One problem with corporal punishment is that often is done in anger. So instead of punishing your kid, you are taking out your anger on him/her.

I was in a shop class in high school that every guy had to take for one semester. It was 4 months of sitting at your desk and parading to the front to be paddled for making a peep.

I assume that after they got rid of all the kids who didn't really want to be in shop they went on to making bedposts or paddles for next year or something.

Only thing I learned from that is that school systems were full of dumb decisions and some teachers were complete assholes.

 

See, I don't mind corporal punishment when applied in a very limited, very controlled fashion. I got spanked exactly once as a kid, and it made a huge impact - I was probably six and had run across a busy street without looking in front of moving traffic. It was only 2-3 swats with a hand on my butt, but it got it through my little head that I should never, ever do that again. It more scared me than it physically hurt, but that's what left the lasting impression.

Would I spank my kid? Probably not, but I can see its uses for egregious discipline issues when the parents is doing it in a responsible, controlled manner. I wouldn't think a school would be a setting for it because it would be a very personal parental decision, though.

 

Got the paddle in kindergarten no less for putting a large box of crayons on a radiator and melting them. I knew better and probably deserved it. I was marched up to Mr. Latta's office where I got two cracks. Amazing, I can't remember what I had for breakfast but I clearly remember that. I guess I was none the worse for wear, but that was the mid-1970s, a different time. I wouldn't want a school official paddling my daughter. If there's a problem at school, I'd rather my wife and I handle it.

 

I don't mind the school disciplining my child. Detention. Saturday school. Stern talking-to. But I don't want them hitting him/her. Huge, huge difference.

It really surprises me, now having children of my own, how commonplace it was just a generation ago for parents (and schools) to beat the crap out of children. They're so immature and innocent. I just don't know how someone could look a child in the eye and then in good conscience inflict physical pain, considering the power structure in place. I can't fathom it.

As I understand it, from what I've picked up here and there, my grandfather absolutely beat the living shit out of my dad and his siblings. It didn't stop at adolescence, either. When my dad wanted to go to college instead of enter the workforce, my grandfather kicked him in the jewels as a sendoff, from what I understand through hints and allegations. Unbelievable. Harrowing. But then he belted us, too (but surely not 1/100th of what he endured, but certainly out of anger).

I'm of the opinion that you actually cede power when you lose control of your emotions, whether the relationship is parent/child, teacher/child, employer/employee, etc., etc.

 

It worked fine for over 100 years, then we got rid of it because some parents were (apparently) okay with letting their kids act out in school and disrupt the teaching session.

Corporal punishment is fine, so that kids who act out can be sent to the assistant principal for a paddling.
It's behavior modification and it works.

As a teacher, I sure wish we could get it back in place. The kids have no repercussions as it is now, when they misbehave or act out.

A lot of this Ritalin and other junk that's being prescribed would not be necessary if the kids were to endure a paddling or two.
This discipline issue, BTW, is just one of the ways that education has been dumbed-down in the USA.

Kids and lots of adults need more tough consequences in their lives. Things would shape up in a hurry.

My girl starts kindergarten this fall and I'm fine with the school disciplining her if she acts out. I'll do it again when she gets home.

 

That's the ticket. If we could just go back to beating our kids, think how much more competitive our economy would be!

 

Have you ever tried just turning off the TV, sitting down with your children, and hitting them?

 

Your fine with the teacher or assistant principal paddling your kindergarten daughter? OK.

And saying hitting a kid is behavior modification is a bit of a stretch. Why isn't detention or expulsion or clapping erasers or hauling mom and dad for a conference behavior modification?

 

Paddlers > passive-aggressive birthers.