Can Corporal Punishment Be Considered Child Abuse - Research Paper Example

Child abuse and corporal punishment Corporal Punishment ‘Can corporal punishment be considered Child abuse?’ In literal terms corporal punishment means deliberately inflicting pain as a punishment for an offence or as creating a certain set of psychological and mental phenomena in a person. In other words it can be stated as use of physical force to mold a child’s behavior. This is an act practiced by elders so that the learning process of a child is facilitated. Corporal punishment includes a wide domain of physical punishments ranging from forced labor to harsh physical torture. Now the issues which arise with these activities are the effectiveness of corporal punishment in creating a sustainable change in the behavior of children and the negative impacts of corporal punishment on the growth of mind set of the children. On usual basis corporal punishment is taken as a punishment which does not result in any injury and mostly includes beating, spanking, paddling, hitting and canning. Corporal punishment possesses its roots to very old era and its actual history is quite uncertain. However it is believed that in almost every age this act of “training” children was present. Either it is Greece, Rome, Egypt or Arab in almost every area or civilization there has been signs of corporal punishment. The most extreme example in this regard can be stated as of Sparta which used cruel punishments for children to make them physically and mentally strong. However in eighteen century this issue attracted some public attention as intellects started writing about this issue. Main theme which was followed in all writings was that such punishments do not create a durable positive change in the behavior of children but they impact only for short period of time. Along with this it was stated that such activities might lead to even negative results and unhealthy behavior in children. In short they all advocated for the fact that aim must be rectification not retribution. This issue caught massive attention when in 1860 a student got killed when he was brutally beaten by his master. Protests in the form of writing and physical still continue today as social organizations believe it to be an immoral practice and in certain countries there are strict laws in this regard but even then such practices are commonly exercised in many parts of the world. In USA in almost fifty states punishment of children is legal in homes but it is not allowed in schools and other training zones. Basically there are three most common forms of corporal punishment which include: Parental corporal punishment where a child is being punished in home for misbehaving or doing something wrong. School corporal punishment is exercised with in schools for the sake of usually shaping the learning of students. Judicial corporal punishments are undertaken by judiciary authorities as a punishment of any criminal activity. Now debate starts from here as people see all these three types in a different manner. For example there are different views about the parental corporal punishment as compared to other two practices. Along with this there is a possibility of people in the favor of any of three with another person not wiling to accept corporal punishment in any of its form. In the later part of the article all these three types will be discussed in a much elaborative manner. Now a question which arises here is that why do we need to punish children so most common themes which are used to justify corporal punishment includes: With corporal punishment children learn to respect and obey their elders and act exactly in the desired manner. For the sake of safety as it is believed that who else is going to tell them the right choice when the closer ones are ignoring their mistakes. Another very strange reason which is presented is that this is the part of culture; parents say that we succeeded because we were punished for bad doings so we must punish our children as well so that they can stay in line with the desired set of activities. So either it is used for training, learning, generating discipline, character building or any other form of positive behavior but even then there exists a division between a lot in the form of pro corporal punishment and against corporal punishment. Those people who are in favor of corporal punishment they argue with the facts that corporal punishment is the only language which children understand in their childhood. For example it is quite difficult for parents or teachers to generate disciplined behavior in their children without punishing them for the wrong doings. This is because of the reasons that as at younger age children are not able to think sensibly and make the correct choice for themselves so it is the carrot and stick model which has to be used. Of course first choice must be to go for the softer choice but in some cases hard options have to be exercised as at that time punishment is the only most immediately reacting and effective option. Furthermore it is stated that as children grow up and start interacting with their environment they try to do different experiments. In such a stage in order to make sure that children don’t get spoiled and their behaviors don’t get ruined it is required that whenever they try to cross a certain level of tolerance they must be punished. People who are in the favor of corporal punishment also say that it is the early years of life where the foundation for the mental and psychological learning is set. So if in such a stage children are not dealt strictly then they never come in hands again. Whereas if corporal punishment is practiced then in the mind sets of children this thing remains very much clear and evident that these are my limits and if I cross them then I am going to face some “unfavorable” consequences. In the early age although different form of “incentives” do help parents in raising their children but even then fear stays as the most effective tool of restraining children from doing any ill dead. Another defense in the favor of corporal punishment is that dealing softly with children results in spoiling them so in order to make sure that they grow and learn in the desired manner there must be certain limits and children crossing those limits must be dealt strictly instead of love and pamper. Furthermore it is stated that as children do not have any developed mental strength so talking to them and making them understand that this is a good or bad choice is simply a waste of time. Parents must opt for directly fear which is assumed to be most effective act of training children for centuries. Although there are number of pro corporal punishment people but even then there is a huge lot which is against pro corporal punishment and in some cases state it as a “crime”. All those opponents of corporal punishment start with the fact that no matter how much it is advocated or for how much time it is being used but corporal punishment is not the best manner of training children. They believe that objectives of generating discipline and increasing learning capacity of children is never positively influenced by corporal punishment at least on a durable basis. Although for a short period of time immediate compliance by the children might happen but this agreement is never sustainable. It is said that corporal punishment lays a physical and psychological impact but the amount of desired positive behavioral influence is negligible. Because corporal punishment never lets the children understand that for what reason they are being punished. However as in the younger age children try to experience new things and as a result of it they again and again commit mistakes which if result in strict punishments then it lead to either a stubborn behavior or eradication of activeness in the child. Along with this it is believed that corporal punishment is an act of degrading. This means that as in the earlier age children don’t know that what is good for them so when ever they are strictly punished it results in de motivation and a sense of degrading in the children which further leads to widening distances between the mentors and children. Though corporal punishments are such punishments which usually do not result in any serious injury but even then all such punishments carry a very high potential of influencing the children on psychological basis. In other words in a research it was found that all those children who are always strictly punished for their mistakes end up with weathered creativity and innovation. Along with the psychological damage, corporal punishment leads to emotional destruction of children as well. As they are emotionally very weak in their childhood so a harsh things engrave quite significant and damaging effects on their emotions. It is also believed that corporal punishment results in sending out the wrong and undesired message. For example when a child is again and again punished then it may communicate a message to them that weaker will be always suppressed and has to suffer the cruelty of stronger ones. Furthermore in some cases it results in teaching children wrong lessons. There is a possibility that when an activity of corporal punishment is exercised an emotion of revenge generates in the hear of child and instead of loving the society they start thinking of teaching it the lessons in a harsh manner as was done with them. With these entire things still the most important fact which is raised against corporal punishment is that it is not an effective manner of teaching as it does not deter the punished ones from any further wrong doings. With all the above discussion it can be clearly seen that for both sides children are important but the distinction only lies in the manner of treating them. There is no doubt in the fact that children must be given special attention and fear is the quickest manner of treating them. However there still exists the fact that children are children. They are the softest part of the humanity so they must be dealt softly. So finally it can be said that corporal punishment must be exercised only when there is no other option and in most limited form. References Straus, M. D & Donnelly, A. D. (2001). Beating the devil out of them. New York. Falk, H. A. (1972). Corporal punishment: a social interpretation of its theory and practice. AMS Press Society for Protection of the Rights of the Child: SPARC Retrieved on (16-02-2010): (http://www.sparcpk.org/crs_corporal_punishment_1.php) Corporal Punishment by David Benatar Retrieved on (16-02-2010): (http://www.corpun.com/benatar.htm) Benatar, D. (2001). The Controversy of Spanking Continues on the Suite. University of Cape Town, South Africa. Retrieved on (16-02-2010): ( http://earlychildhood.suite101.com/article.cfm/corporal_punishment Pro Corporal Punishment: Child Discipline With love. Retrieved on (16-02-2010): ( http://www.child-discipline-with-love.com/pro-corporal-punishment.html) Read More