CORPORAL PUNISHMENT

  In This assignment Is one of the  more trickier ones  I’ve found, the difficulty was in finding a topic. Eric O. is in my same age group,  there isn’t too much we disagree on. After hearing about a person in Singapore getting caned, I thought why not discuss Corporal Punishment in Schools.

            No I’m not  for principals abusing kids in any way shape or form, obviously the cartoon to the left is way out on left base somewhere. I believe if paddling was done at an early age, in the principal’s office, always under constant supervision. I would have to agree that kids would be less likely to act up in class. Think about it people, we have metal detectors in high schools these days.

            I can say for the most part the people I associate with, are in my age group and have years sober. Many of them dislike the fact that they can’t  punish their children in any way shape or form.  I can actually see that the kids know that they have the power, and act buck wild at times.

            I grew up in a very strict household, where parents could instill the fear of god in you with just one look. My father had been in the army, and was very stern and quiet. A couple years ago I remember talking with my older brothers about out of control children these days. We unanimously came to the conclusion, that back in our day children just didn’t act up. My parent’s put the fear of god in ya!

Three sources that I used to learn more about this topic was, first an article in the New York Times; Entitled “In many public  schools, The Paddle is no Relic”.

      This article I found to be very interesting being that Mr. Prices punishment systems easily compares to the rungs of a  ladder. The bottom being a stiff warning , the next is detention followed by isolation from other students. To me it reads that the next step is your parents getting to hang out with you all day in school watching you.                                                        

The second article is entitled :”Pro-Paddle student, families fight to keep the paddle” This article is about St. Augustine’s in New Orleans a predominately black Catholic School. The article is definitely for corporal punishment pretty much stating that throughout the schools history it has been known for its policies on punishment, as well as the number of fine upstanding citizens that have graduated from there in the black community. Who claim they are no worse for wear from it.

The third article entitled:” Student’s still paddled in schools, study finds”. I never knew there were other types of corporal punishment. Such as “ear twisting, hair pulling, and knuckle wrapping”. I would have to be more on the traditional side of it meaning just paddling.

      This assignment was done in conjunction with Joe M., who did the part of corporal punishment being a good disciplinary action in our schools youth.
      Corporal Punishment should not be allowed in our schools today. We are a more civilized people than we were. 19 states still allow this type of punishment to go on. Over 200,000 kids a year are still, basically being abused by authority figures. They should be encouraging, not discouraging our youth.
      ABCnews did a story on this problem. USATODAY also did a recent story on this subject where a 14 year old child was injured after receiving a paddling. This is a very serious concern, kids are being punished for really stupid reasons, like getting a bad grade on a test, as was the case for the boy in the ABC story. CNN did another story about the need to get rid of corporal punishment in our schools.
     The effects that corporal punishment has on our school children leads to problems in learning. It also, can lead to many emotional and psychological problems. These problems can follow a person for the rest of their lives. Many different books have been written on the subject, like The Journal of Youth and Adolescence. The National Association of School Nurses is behind getting rid of this discipline in all states for reasons like these and many others.

&nbps;    Personally, as a child I think I was given the paddle once or twice. I was a pretty good kid. The reason for one of my paddlings was for ditching school with some friends in the sixth grade. Don't recall what happened to get the others, but I remember them happening. I saw the effects of it in my older brother. I know he spent a lot of time in the principles office. He didn't make it past the 7th grade on the second try. Spent a lot of time in and out of prison, as well.
  Not that it had any effects on me that I can think of. I just really don't agree with someone else punishing my child. I think that it is my job to do so, when I think it is appropriate. My children have their problems just like most, but, paddling isn't going to solve a thing the way I see it. I think it creates more problems than it solves. It gives our kids the wrong idea on how we should handle a situation, violence only breeds violence.








Our summary, we came to the conclusion that once we researched and discuss what each other thought on the subject. We could come to a some what common ground, seeing how each other thinks that punishment in school should and shouldn't be allowed. Joe thinks that it is ok until it becomes abuse of any type. I think it is all abuse. We can see that in certain situations that it might be necessary as long as it is monitored in a controlled environment. The only thing that should be allowed is paddling, no other form of punishment should be tolerated, like hair pulling, ear twisting, or hitting any other parts of the body. Joe and I approve this message and came to common ground on corporal punishment.