Question

Was corporal punishment relevant in earlier times?

Answer 1

While corporal punishment has no place in schools – and one only has to read evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse to understand how fine the line between discipline, abuse, violence and exploitation is when it comes to corporal punishment – the fact Donnelly’s views have been debated so fiercely and given moderate consideration is indicative of the level of frustration in the community.

While there are the usual “well, it did me no harm” responses from older generations, there are also the understandable “touch my kid and I’ll sue you” retorts.

Somewhere in the middle, however, is an overarching awareness that going “back to the future” to resolve issues in the present is not appropriate. What is? The answer: Respect.

Railing against violence of any description, deeply concerned about levels of domestic abuse and its victims, it’s utterly crazy we’re seriously debating the role of corporal punishment in schools. How can we endorse hitting to ensure obedience and submission in one arena and abhor it in another? Talk about mixed messages of power and control and ways of exerting it.

Violence begets violence – striking a child to ensure compliance to an adult directive is a short-term and ineffective solution to behavioural problems. It does not engender respect but it does build fear and resentment.

Some teachers who administered corporal punishment to students admit they felt absolutely awful and many, still to this day, reflect upon and seriously doubt its efficacy. Most recipients of
the cane were already experiencing abuse at home – hence the acting out at school.

What happens to hope, trust and respect, let alone a change of behaviour then?

Teachers act in loco parentis – in place of a parent. So many parents either forget or don’t respect that. Instead of understanding that teachers operate in concert with them and the community and with the child’s best interests at heart, they forgo support and undermine the kids’ teachers directly and indirectly, making consequences, discipline, respect and ultimately learning inconsistent if not impossible.

Respect is the keystone to civilisation and social interaction. It’s earned and learnt when one is a loving, communicative and consistent parent or adult whom a child can trust. Ensuring there are boundaries set and within which a kid knows their limits and adult expectations is important.

Respect comes from taking responsibility for actions and the consequences of these, and self-respect follows. It’s also role-modelled. Donnelly’s suggested solution to bad behaviour in the classroom is no surprise.

Corporal punishment is nothing but an unbalanced, narrow-minded and anti-educational response, a “grab bag of ideologically-driven brain explosions”, that shows no respect for a complex issue with the mental, emotional, educational and psychological wellbeing of our kids and their future at its heart.

Answer 2

Answer:

I think that corporal punishment was relevant during earlier times because it created respect for elders and teachers and also created fear among the students for their elders and teachers.This made them obedient.But today kids have become more aggressive and if they are beaten by the teachers they become more and more aggressive and do more wrong hings which creates a big matter.So corporal punishment was relevant in olden times but is not relevant today.