Should Schools Be Allowed to Use Corporal Punishment?

James Ingraham, a student from Drew Junior High School in Dade County, Florida, was paddled by his principal twenty times on 6th October,1970 just because he was a few seconds late in coming down from the stage of the auditorium. Ingraham was punished so violently by the principal of the school that later he was admitted to hospital, and had to be away from the school for two weeks (Sterett). Even though this incident happened forty years back, the practice of corporal punishment is still taking place in some parts of the world, and the debate of whether corporal punishment should be legal or not is still a very heated topic. However, corporal punishment should be stopped completely and made illegal for the betterment of the students.
Corporal punishment is the main cause of students facing physical and psychological disabilities. Murray A. Strauss. Professor of sociology and co-director of the family research laboratory at University of New Hampshire believes in “It’s using the rod that causes problems for the child” (Michell) which means that physical violence is the main reason for students getting on to wrong track and eventually becoming less productive compared to students who do not suffer corporal punishment. Researchers have also found that, on average those students who are not spanked are the ones who show best behaviour in class rooms and have least social or emotional disorders (Michell). Furthermore, physical violence is the main problem of students getting bruises on their body, physical disabilities, and in worst cases they even get hospitalised for a longer period of time. According to the article Corporal Punishment “When canes, paddles, and belts are used on children, the potential exist for numerous physical injuries, including ruptured blood vessels, nerve and muscle damage, and haemorrhaging. Ear, eyes and brains can be permanently damaged as a result of paddling”. Moreover, if a student is given continuous corporal punishment he loses his self confidence and eventually gets scared of speaking with their teachers, friends and parents. Corporal punishment can help calm down students immediately; however, the long run physical and psychological effects on the students are terrible, they tend to get more violent in their behaviour as they grow up because this is the way they were treated when they were kids. Therefore, in present as the world is getting a more modernised outlook, schools must stop treating students as their slaves and using corporal punishment against them. Schools should try to adopt the strategy of leniency towards the students, as this would make the child understand their mistake deep inside, and would prevent him from getting violated by the teacher and humiliated in front of his classmates, which might avoid them from repeating it again.
Corporal punishment is not the solution for the mistakes made by the students, because this may lead the child to face many disabilities which can be both physical and psychological. However, some institutions still believe that to discipline a child and not to make him repeat the same mistake again corporal punishment is necessary.
Recently, an incident in one of the private schools in Dubai made headlines in every newspaper; a student from 3rd grade allegedly slapped the librarian when she tried to stop the child running inside the library (Rashid and Kannan). Supporters of corporal punishment highlight such stories arguing that if corporal punishment is not allowed in schools, then students take the advantage of it and eventually teachers have to suffer. Proponents of corporal punishment claim teachers are left with no power over students which give the student the freedom to misbehave and disturb during class lectures. Some people believe children at very young age are like clay, which can be moulded in any form. Therefore, to teach the child the right principles and attitudes towards life, educators need to give them some kind of corporal punishment. As schools which use rods and sticks to control the students are sometimes more successful in making the child more productive which later in life helps them secure a better future. Proponents have also noticed that in an atmosphere where corporal punishment is practiced, students are more respectful to teachers as well. Most of the times the headlines of a newspaper consist of crime like rapes and robberies, a big reason behind that can be lack of education or may be because of the freedom to do anything which was given to them in schools, which eventually reflects in their behaviour when they are adults. To avoid future misbehaviour of the child “The Bible is often quoted as a rationale for corporal punishment: “Spare the rod and spoil the child” (“Corporal Punishment”) which means to stop the child from getting spoiled, some kind of spanking is necessary in their early ages. However, there is no evidence that corporal punishment is the only way to teach a lesson to the student for the mistake he or she has done. Studies have found that use of corporal punishment creates a greater chance for students becoming more than normal in physical aggressiveness (Michell). Corporal punishment not only harms students physically but also emotionally. Researchers have found that children who regularly face corporal punishments are more depressed compared to other children (Michell). Therefore, looking at the harmful effects of corporal punishment, it must become completely illegal to practice it.
In Conclusion, it can be found that the harmful effects of corporal punishment are now coming to light, which is why corporal punishment at present is getting fewer in number then before. There are certain advantages of corporal punishments, like it helps maintain discipline amongst the students and making them more productive in nature, but the disadvantages of excess corporal punishments are much more intense comparatively. Because children are the most vulnerable beings, what they will absorb in their young age is what they will reflect when they get old. Therefore, if students face corporal punishment, which has violence as its underlying principle, then they will eventually reflect violence later on in life. Hence, some alternative punishments must be thought, which should have least effects on students physically and mentally.

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Work cited
“Corporal Punishment In American Schools” 9 June 2008 <http:/www.slc.cevier.org/corpun.htm>.
Michell, Patrick. “Physical Punishment and Why Kids are Better Off Without It”. Childrens Voice Magazine 16.4 (July-August 2007): 19(1). Opposing View Points. LIRN Infotrac. AUD lib. 9 June 2008 <http:/www.lim.net/auth>.
Rashid, Mohsen and Kannan, Preeti. “A Lesson In Good Behaviour”. Khaleej Times Online. 9 June 2008 http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?section=theuae&xfile=data/theuae/2008/april/theuae_april787.xml
Sterett, Susan. “Paddling in Schools” Student Resource Center Gold. LIRN Infotrac. AUD lib. 9 June 2008 <http:/www.lim.net/auth>.