Introduction
Every student recognizes the idea of corporal punishment, and in recent years, across different states, teachers have identified with punishing their students for wrongdoing or being undisciplined. Notably, appearing touchy with one’s crush while in school or walking around with saggy pants could warrant a student getting paddled by their teachers in Mississippi. Moreover, students engaging and demonstrating public affection, including failure to submit homework, could also lead to corporal punishment. While corporal punishment is not standard across public schools today, it remains legal across 19 American states. Britain banned the act in 1986, and Canada did away with corporal punishment in 2004 (The Economist, 2). Therefore, it remains clear that there are better approaches than corporal punishment for demonstrating discipline among students.
Thesis: Therefore, this discussion considers that corporal punishment should be banned and declared legal across the United States. However, a discussion from an interview with a retired high school teacher will account for the need to punish young students. The following are the reasons for banning corporal punishment in schools; the first reason is that corporal punishment infringes on students’ fundamental rights, hitting a child does not equate to discipline, and also that the act is not sustainable for the student’s future.
Every child or student should be protected from any form of abuse, especially physical abuse, which is perpetuated through corporal punishment. The problem and the reason why hitting children in schools should be banned is because it is a violation of the student’s fundamental human rights. Notably, smacking or spanking a student because of wrongdoing is a form of physical abuse that should be banned from schools. The United Nations greatly advocates against corporal punishment and the need for teachers to identify with other means to assert discipline. Leading European human rights movements have called for banning physical punishment in schools. The primary challenge with physical abuse for students is that, in most cases, corporal punishment could translate to other forms of abuse, such as violence or the child being neglected, which is more dangerous abuse for the child. Physical abuse also promotes gender-based violence because, in most cases, the boys get punished the most when compared to the girls, demonstrating the need to ban physical abuse in schools.
There is not enough reason to equate hitting a child to asserting discipline. The primary challenge with physical punishment, especially in schools, is that it dries the child to severe mental health challenges such as depression or engaging in behaviors such as substance abuse. Therefore, parents must contend with parents and other stakeholders to identify other effective measures to assert discipline besides physical punishment. As noted earlier, the challenge with physical punishment is that it affects the mental well-being of the children, which is contrary to the initial intention of correcting bad behavior in schools. In most cases, physical punishment of students has been identified as “barbaric” and not an effective means of helping children correct their behavior. Therefore, legal regulations should determine physical punishment to be illegal across schools in every state in America.
Every child requires a sustainable strategy that should inform their development into functional, productive members of society. The problem with physical punishment is that it is not a sustainable strategy for discipline that could account for the child’s future. Notably, children who have experienced physical abuse are likely to engage in behaviors such as substance abuse and crime-based activities when they are adults because of the trauma that comes with physical punishment. The majority of the states and respective countries, such as Canada and England, that have banned physical abuse have identified and incorporated alternative measures that ensure and promote good behavior among their students. Notably, parents and teachers can identify with respective interventions, for instance, positive reinforcements, unlike physical punishment, which only asserts immediate compliance while neglecting the results of such abuse when the child gets older (Heekes, 54). Therefore, physical abuse does not account for an effective means of asserting discipline and, therefore, should be declared illegal in all American states.
However, while there are enough reasons to declare corporal punishment illegal, there are proponents of corporal punishment who believe that physical punishment is necessary for the well-being of children. For instance, having interviewed a former high school teacher named Grace, her response to corporal punishment was that corporal punishment was effective in combating increasing levels of indiscipline in schools (Grace, 2). During the interview, the former teachers also disclosed that upon banning corporal punishment in schools across the states, students have been performing poorly academically, and indiscipline has been significantly higher across primary public schools. Moreover, there have been increased cases of students abusing their teachers since physical punishment was abolished and banned in significant schools. This demonstrates teachers’ challenges in refusing physical punishment in schools over the years.
Conclusion
In summary, alternative measures should be introduced in schools to address indiscipline if corporal punishment is to be banned across the remaining states in America. This is important because there are several challenges related to corporal punishment among students, such as mental health challenges and the probability of students engaging in other behaviors, such as drugs and criminal activities. The discussion around corporal punishment is essential because students should be protected against any form of abuse, and it is also necessary that parents and teachers identify effective and sustainable alternative measures to discipline their children. The best approach to advocate for the banning of physical abuse in schools is through advocacy, especially for the parents and teachers through their local administrators and for the students. It is essential to create awareness and promote the importance of alternative measures of asserting discipline among students. The best solution to this challenge involves teachers and parents identifying sustainable alternative measures for maintaining student discipline.
Works Cited
The Economist. “It is still legal to hit children in school in 19 American states.” (2023) https://www.economist.com/united-states/2023/01/19/it-is-still-legal-to-hit-children-in-school-in-19-american-states
Heekes, Sasha-Lee, et al. “A systematic review of corporal punishment in schools: Global prevalence and correlates.” Trauma, Violence, & Abuse 23.1 (2022): 52-72. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1524838020925787
Grace. Interview. Conducted by (Students Name). 9th February 2024.
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