It’s Time to Put an End to Corporal Punishment in Schools
Seven countries-Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Italy and Cyprus- have laws making it illegal for parents to use physical punishment on their children. Corporal punishment in schools has been banned in all the countries in Europe, South and Central America, China and Japan. The United States has outlawed corporal punishment from our prisons as cruel and inhumane treatment, as well as wife-beating, once thought to be the right of a husband. Why don’t we afford the same protection to our children?
Our culture sanctions the use of corporal or physical punishment as a way for parents to discipline their children. Just a few weeks ago Marvin Munyon, president of the Family Resource Forum based in Madison, Wisconsin, was at the Eau Claire Gospel Center to talk about and demonstrate the proper way to spank children. Mr. Munyon would have us believe that discipline other than spanking is ineffective (Emerson 1B, 3B). From my experience as a child and a parent I have found the opposite to be true. If we take a look at what discipline is and the reasons parents use physical punishment, we can then start to understand that there are more effective ways to discipline children.
Webster’s New World Dictionary defines corporal punishment, as “bodily punishment.” The word punish is defined by the same source as “to cause to undergo pain, loss, etc., as for a crime.” There is no mention anywhere in this definition about teaching or training which is one of the definitions of discipline: “training that develops self-control, efficiency, etc.” What does physical punishment teach children? For one thing it teaches them that it’s ok...
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...Associated Press. “To Spank or not to Spank? Debate continues after Georgia incident. A Matter of Discipline.” Baltimore Sun, The (Baltimore, MD), July 10, 1994: 1J. Available: NewsBank NewsFile Collection (1991-current) (Online).
Emerson, Julian. “Spanking As Discipline Promoted.” Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, September 23, 2000: 1B, 3B. EPOCH-USA. “Spanking: Facts & Fiction.” Homepage. 15 Oct. 2000 http:/www.stophitting.com/EPOCH/epoch_spanking.htm
NCACPS: “Facts About Corporal Punishment.” Homepage: 15 Oct. 2000 http:/www.stophitting.com/NCACPS/NCACPS_facts_about_corporal_punishment.htm
Schulte, Brigid. “AMA research suggests spanking kids hinders discipline more than it helps.” Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service, August 14, 1997. Available: NewsBank NewsFile Collection (1991-current) (Online).
Fulero, S. M., & Wrightsman, L. S. (2009). Forensic psychology. (3rd ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
...Coast of Canada gave a great deal of their life’s energy to the building of the infrastructure of Canada. All of the early pioneers came to Canada prepared to work hard in order to send money back home to support their families and to build new lives in Canada. In many cases, this was a long and lonely sacrifice and few experienced support from the white settlers or received protection from the government. In almost every situation, the Asians were paid less than the whites and had no rights or privileges in the new country. Little by little, they were denied until eventually, immigration was rejected altogether separating families and leaving individual alienated from their loved ones. Thousands of men and women sacrificed and endured a great deal of pain in order to be accepted as citizens of Canada. Their stories are a vital part of the history of the West.
Chinese immigrants to the United States of America have experienced both setbacks and triumphs in the quest to seek a better life from themselves and their families. First arriving in America in the mid-1800s to seek jobs and escape poor conditions in their home country, the Chinese found work as labors and settled in areas known as Chinatowns (Takaki 181-183). In the early years, these immigrants experienced vast legal racism and sexism as women were forbidden to enter the country and the Chinese Exclusion Act prevented laborers from entering the country for years (Takaki 184-192). Today, the modern Chinese-American experience has changed from the experience of early Chinese immigrants. Many immigrants enter the country seeking better education as well employment (Yung, Chang, and Lai 244). Immigrant women have made great strides in achieving equality to men. Despite advancements, many immigrants still experience discrimination on some level. One example of a modern Chinese immigrant is “Ruby”, a college student who, with her parents, immigrated from Hong Kong to a suburb of Providence, Rhode Island, 7 years ago. Ruby’s story shares insight on the modern Chinese-American experience and the struggles this group still faces. Chinese immigrants have long maintained a presence in the United States, and despite many struggles, have eventually began to reap the benefits of this great nation.
... deserved and the education they had hoped there kid’s generation would receive. After working on the railroads, the gold mines, the construction, and the fishing, they had realized that this was going to be there home. The Chinese are active in there communities and respond to the policies of Canada. They have given themselves a name that would be remembered and valued for. There struggle through racisms, and discrimination made them stronger knowing if they had not stood up to this nation each Chinese Canadian citizen would have fallen. Seeing their community today, shows there passion, and love for their culture and morals. The Chinese- Canadian immigrants are considered till today one of the most successful immigrants: achieving the highest grades, more jobs given to the Chinese, culture oriented, and the ones that suffered through Canada to earn their place.
Roesch, R., Zapf, P. A., & Hart, S. D. (2010). Forensic psychology and law. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons.
The Chinese people first immigrated to Canada in hopes of making a fortune to bring back to their homeland. Many of the first Chinese immigrants left in the 1860s because of the decaying Fraser River Gold Rush; the reason why the Chinese moved there in the first place. Building the Canadian Pacific railway required many people, something not available at the time. Many workers came from the United States, where they constructed the Union Pacific Railway. Canadians grew displeased by the growing amount of Chinese immigrants, who they felt lived far too differently. This was the start of the racism and hatred for the Chinese. Although the Chinese Pioneers were critical contributors to the advancement of Canadian society, they were never perceived in that way.
Costanzo, M., & Krauss, D. (2012). Forensic and Legal Psychology: Psychological Science Applied to Law. New York: Worth Publishers.
Costanzo, M., & Krauss, D. (2012). Forensic and legal psychology: Psychological science applied to law. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
The use of spanking is one of the most controversial parenting practices and also one of the oldest, spanning throughout many generations. Spanking is a discipline method in which a supervising adult deliberately inflicts pain upon a child in response to a child’s unacceptable behaviour. Although spanking exists in nearly every country and family, its expression is heterogeneous. First of all the act of administering a spanking varies between families and cultures. As Gershoff (2002) pointed out, some parents plan when a spanking would be the most effective discipline whereas some parents spank impulsively (Holden, 2002). Parents also differ in their moods when delivering this controversial punishment, some parents are livid and others try and be loving and reason with the child. Another source of variation is the fact that spanking is often paired with other parenting behaviours such as, scolding, yelling, or perhaps raging and subsequently reasoning. A third source of variation concerns parental characteristics. Darling and Steinberg (1993) distinguished between the content of parental acts and the style in which it was administered (Holden, 2002). With all this variation researchers cannot definitively isolate the singular effects of spanking.
The social need for Forensic Psychology arose from the need for expert testimony in a court of law. After Stern’s discoveries, psychologists began appearing more and more often in courts (Tartakovsky, 2011).
Finally, we need to know more about the personal resources of parents that can lessen the incidence of spanking. It is found that spanking sharply decreases as the parent ages. Despite ideological motivations, parents can and should be trained to understand alternative strategies of discipline (Day 93).
Greenfield, D. (2007). Introduction to forensic psychology. issues and controversies in crime and justice. Journal of Psychiatry & Law, 35(2), 201-201-204,105-106.
Institute of Medicine. (n.d.). Retrieved Jan 10, 2011, from Childhood Obesity Prevention Actions for Local Government: www.iom.edu/Activities/Childhood/LocalObesPrevention.asp
Spanking is an important aspect of a child’s social development and should not be considered an evil form of abuse. In her argument, Debra Saunders says that there is an obvious difference between beating a child and spanking a child, and parents know the boundary. Spanking is the most effective form of discipline when a child knows doing something is wrong, but the child does it anyway. A child who is properly disciplined through spanking is being taught how to control her or his impulses and how to deal with all types of authorities in future environments. Parents can control their child’s future behavior by using spanking in early childhood, because if...
Most parents believe that spanking their children is the most effective way to punish them because it was the standard method of discipline when they were young. However, Michael J. Mackenzie of Columbia School of Social Work states that “[spanking] gives the immediate feedback that it’s working. But the goal is to have kids regulate themselves over time. And in that, spanking fails”. I believe parents hit their children in the heat of the moment, and there are far more constructive methods of teaching children the difference between right and wrong, such as rewarding them for good behavior and making sure they know when they’ve made a