Corporal Punishment

Unfortunately, one of the reasons that spanking (or other forms of corporal punishment) is so popular is that it makes the parent temporarily feel better. It makes them feel like they're doing something. And it takes no thought. It's much easier to pop a child than it is to figure out a logical consequence. But if the end result is a child feeling "humiliated and helpless" and the child's behavior does not change in the long term, then the method of punishment is futile.

* It is inherently abusive for a larger, stronger person to physically assail a weaker person. This is especially true when the stronger person is in a position of authority over the weaker.

* Furthermore, the victims of child abuse are likely to be violent against other children.

One way of defining corporal punishment is any physical action taken to punish a child, which if directed against an adult would constitute and unlawful assault. Adults have a great knack for inventing special words to make them feel more comfortable about hitting children - smacking, spanking. But the stark reality for the child is that all of this is violence.

Swearing at school - eight lashes.

Telling lies - seven lashes.

Hitting adults is called assault.

Hitting animals is called cruelty.

Hitting children is "for their own good".

I'm beginning to think that teachers who induce corporal punishment on children have using the idiom "There's more than one way to skin a cat." quite literally.

Not only is it a violation of children's right to respect for physical integrity, it causes serious physical and psychological harm. It teaches children that violence is an acceptable and appropriate strategy for resolving conflicts or getting a job done. If corporal punishment is made legitimate, protection of children becomes difficult and easily leads to child abuse.

A low self-esteem is one of the principle problems brought on by corporal punishment and can result in anxiety difficulties, panic attacks, alcohol dependency, delinquency and insecurity. Victims of this physical violence also tend to be more shy and resentful than those who are not subject to physical harm. Furthermore, corporal punishment sees the deterioration of the relationship between the victim and the person exercising the violence, the teacher.

One might argue that there are positive features in the practice of corporal punishment. But if the result is negative, the problem is going to get worse than it previously was.

Corporal punishment is still used in most of India. The Supreme Court of India banned its use in schools in 2000, and 17 out of 28 states claim to apply the ban, though enforcement is lax.[63]

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