Whether corporal punishment should be applied in home, school or any other setting in punishing children has been an issue that has been widely debated. There are those who believe that this kind of punishment is a good means of offering discipline to children while others see it as a form of abuse (Coleman, Dodge, & Campbell, 2010). There are people who believe that the practice is a means of discipline and, on the other hand, there are those people who believe it is child abuse. This paper aims to discuss whether or not corporal punishment is necessary in punishing children.
Corporal punishment refers to the kind of physical punishment, which is involved with deliberate pain infliction as an act of retribution for a wrong that has been done, or even for the purpose of reforming or disciplining a wrongdoer. The practice is also done to deter a behavior or attitudes that are deemed not acceptable. The term corporal punishment in most cases refers to the methodically striking of the person who have done wrong with an implement, or with the open hand or whether in domestic, judicial, or educational settings. The United Nation’s committee that is concerned with children rights defines corporal punishment as any punishment where there is the use of physical force with an intention of causing some levels of pain or even discomfort irrespective of how light (United Nations, 2007).
The corporal punishment can be classified into three different types. The first type is the domestic or parental corporal punishment where the children are punished for doing wrong by either their parents or guardians. The second type is the school corporal punishment, which occurs within schools, and the students are punished either by the school administrator or the teachers. The third type is the judicial corporal punishment where the punishment is ordered by the court as a part of a sentence for a criminal offense. The corporal punishments may also be found in the military setting, although the practice is banned in others. In about 50 of the states, in the US, the use of corporal punishment to minors in domestic settings is allowed by the law, according to a survey that was conducted in 2000. The act is also approved by most parents (Reaves, 2000).
In most cases, the corporal punishment is employed as a way of offering discipline to the child. An effective discipline is the one that helps the child to learn on how to have control of their behavior and help them act in conformity with their own ideas of the things that are right and those that are wrong. This is unlike when the children act the right way because they fear to b punished. Punishment uses a painful experience to stop a child from doing what is considered wrong. The use of discipline also aims at instilling competence and character to the child in order to encourage physical, moral, as well as intellectual development, while giving the child a sense of responsibility (Cope, 2010).
There are four basic kinds of punishment. The first one is physical punishment, which involves slapping, switching, spanking, or paddling. The second kind of punishment is the verbal punishment which involves shaming, using cruel words, ridiculing among others. The third form of punishment is the withholding rewards, where the child is denied privileges such as watching television (Paediatr Child Health, 2004 ). The final kind of punishment is the use of penalties when the offender is charged for the wrong that has been committed.
Physical and verbal punishments are usually not considered to be methods that offer effective discipline. However, giving penalties and withholding rewards are considered to be both as punishment or effective discipline methods depending on the way the punishment is administered. The use of corporal punishment in children is not an effective way of punishing those children who do wrong. This is mainly because the practice causes the child to hate himself as well as the others around him. Once the punishment has been administered, the children feel that something wrong in them is causing them to be badly treated. The feeling that the child is bad may cause the child to act bad to justify their situation and this result in a vicious cycle. The children who are punished in such manner feel they have no reason to be good and will only be good just for the sake of avoiding the punishment (Telep, 2009).
The use of corporal punishment requires that the age of the child to be considered. There are various states and nations where corporal punishment is allowed are considering the age of the child in their classification of a punishment as reasonable. For instance, the Hawaii law has given specifications to the parents on the force that is acceptable depending on the age, as well as the size of the child. The Washington and Maryland laws require that the age, condition and the size of the child be considered when administering corporal punishment to the children. These are some of measures to ensure that the welfare of the minor is safeguarded (Cope, 2010).
There are a number of the reasons that are given by those who use the corporal punishment rather than the other methods of discipline. These include the fact that no other form of punishment seems to work well like the corporal punishment. Others say that they are trying to show the children who are the boss in the house others say that the children are the ones who ask for it. In addition, most of them use this kind of punishment since the same was use on them and they were okay (Telep, 2009).
There are theoretical as well as practical disadvantages that are associated with the punishment. The most important on theoretical disadvantage is that the punishment is in most cases not related to the misbehavior in a logic manner. For instance, failing to turn in the assignment, talking to the teacher rudely, or smoking in the washroom are not related in any logical way to have the cause a child to be swatted on the buttock (Vockell, 1991).
The other disadvantage is the fact that there is no possibility for the recipient of the punishment to engage in behavior that is desirable to help and stop the corporal punishment. This is unlike the other kind of punishments where there are good behaviors that are available for use to help and stop the punishment. For example, a child who has failed to do the homework may be punished by being spunk or by being denied time to watch television. If the parents choose to spank the child, the child has no way to get out of the corporal punishment. The child can only feign pain in order to try and have the parent ease the punishment. However, if the parents decide to suspend the privileges of watching television, there is a possibility that the child would study energetically to try and get the privileges reinstated. It is not all teachers or parents who take advantage of such an opportunity of reinforcing behaviors that are not compatible with the undesirable behaviors. The opportunity is, however, theoretically available even with other kinds of corporal punishment (Vockell, 1991).
The third disadvantage of using physical punishment is the fact that the punishment in most cases model behaviors that are socially inappropriate to the children. The children who have experienced sparking are most likely to behave in an aggressive manner and to hit other children. If other natural consequences are employed, there is a possibility that the child will imitate these behaviors that are socially acceptable (Vockell, 1991).
The use of corporal punishment has some superficial benefits that may be associated with. There are a huge number of normal adults who are well adjusted and some of them had identified at least a number of occasions when they received corporal punishment that resulted in some benefits. There are many recipients who have perceived the punishment as unpleasant and may help the child in reforming in order to avoid the punishment in future (Vockell, 1991).
The other benefit of using corporal punishment is that the punishment is administered quickly and can thus be over in a very short time. This is unlike the other forms of punishment such as detention from school for some days. During the detention days, the teacher may need to remain neutral so that the child will not find the session as a punishment, but as an enjoyable time. The prolonged punishment also affects other interactions existing between the teacher and the child during the punishment period. After the punishment period is over, everything may return to normal between the child and the teacher. However, in the corporal punishment the teacher would have paddled the child, got over with it and returned to the relation with the child much more quickly (Vockell, 1991).
The other advantage in the use of corporal punishment is the fact that it is very specific, clear and an obvious consequence. In cases where corporal punishment is exercised, there is a clear understanding of what will happen to children should they misbehave seriously. In environments such as schools where the corporal punishment is not exercised, the situation on how the children will happen in case they misbehave. However, this advantage is negated if the administration of corporal punishment is not constant. In addition, the advantage is not inherent as other consequences of misbehavior may be clear, obvious and specific just like the corporal punishment (Vockell, 1991).
Corporal punishment poses a number of effects on the children. Children together with their parents advance through emotional as well as social stages of development in association to one another. For children at school age and their teachers, these developmental stages turn to be developmental undertakings that they have to carry out to ensure optimum cognitive development. Discipline is essential for the achievement of these undertakings. It is also significant for the physical well-being and safety of the child as well as for their emotional, cognitive and social development (Hymen & Wise, 1979).
Nevertheless, corporal punishment and discipline are not identical. The objective of every discipline of children has to be the character development in the kind of a social moral sense (Kevin, James, & Aufderheide, 1991). The society of America will not productively develop its children except at the end of eighteen years they appreciate that they dwell in a society together with other people and thus they are accountable for that society’s good. In most cases, it is only when discipline fails that many adults resort to punishment.
Corporal punishment makes a child not to advance through the development undertakings. Corporal punishment suppresses the achievement of every stage. The stages of development of school-aged children include liberty or doubt, trust versus mistrust, initiative, industry versus lowliness, individuality versus confusion of role. By school age, the child ought to have developed basic trust. The parallel teacher’s developmental undertaking is to learn the prompts. Corporal punishment wears away the basic trust of the child, induces mistrust, annoyance, as well as bitterness. Corporal punishment subverts the ability of the teacher to translate the basic needs of a pupil and to offer an environment of reciprocal trust that is conducive for learning.
The use of corporal punishment as a way of punishing children has been shown to be an ineffective method and cannot produce the behavior changes that are desired. The practice in most cases lead to the damage of the child and is highly impractical where controls are needed to get maximal effectiveness. There are numerous disadvantages and negative effects to the children who go through the corporal punishment. These facts outweigh the few advantages that the corporal punishment has over the other forms of punishment.
There is a strong struggle in determining whether the use of corporal punishment is effective, dangerous, or justified. It is thus worth concluding that, although the use of corporal punishment may be useful in shaping behavior, proper guidelines need to be put in place that will enable the practice to be used effectively, without causing harm to the child. Factors such as age, size as well as the condition of the child need to be considered while administering the punishment. The use of corporal punishment may there for be needed to punish children and can only be used when the set guidelines are followed.
Reference List
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