The Importance Of Corporal Punishment In Schools

Whether corporal punishment should be allowed in schools has been long disputed. Advocates reason corporal punishment is necessary to produce well-behaved children (Hicks-Pass 71.) Although these supporters of corporal punishment in schools argue it is a normal, necessary part of child education and a successful way to enforce appropriate behavior, it should not be permitted due to the great potential of long-lasting, harmful effects on students such as damaging their self-esteem and causing the belief that violence is acceptable and as there are alternative disciplinary actions that are far more effective such as providing direction and teaching personal responsibility in ways that are meaningful and logical.

Corporal punishment in schools is defined as "physical pain inflicted on the body of a child as a penalty for disapproved behavior” (qtd, in Dupper and Montgomery Dingus 243.) Within the educational setting it is one of the oldest methods associated with controlling unwanted behavior (Jambor 220.) Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries corporal punishment

Corporal punishment is seen to them as “the use of physical force with the intention of causing a child to experience pain, but not injury, for the purposes of correction or control of the child’s behavior” (qtd. in Hicks-Pass 72.) They indicate that when corporal punishment is used appropriately, it secures or restores order, disciplines the body and motivates the mind, imbues religious and moral lessons, and punishes and prevents aberrant behavior (Axelrod 263.) Those who support corporal punishment suggest it to be consistent with prevailing practices in homes and schools (Maguire and Ó Cinnéide 635.) To supporters, the traditions of conservatism, order, and authority make it acceptable for force to be used to ensure appropriate behavior in