Last week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Jeff Broomes, Carl Applewhaite and two Harrisonian students, Jared Spencer and Ravina Chatrani, on the pros and cons of corporal punishment for my television show.
I have personally found that more parents are resorting to the view that corporal punishment is unnecessary in raising a child despite claims from some that “this young generation is lost and the behaviour is the worst ever.”
Proponents of the abolition of corporal punishment in schools claim that teachers and parents need to be more equipped with psychological training tools to effectively address behavioural change as opposed to resorting to flogging and hitting children.
Determining effective corporal punishment is subjective, and that in itself is an issue.
Who determines what an effective measure of corporal punishment is? Why should two lashes be given for being rude to a teacher rather than five lashes? Whereas five lashes may feel like a feather to some, it may bruise others. I remember being in primary school and wearing layers of shorts under my uniform to cushion the lashes – a habit my friends and I adopted to help curb the ‘hotness’ of the licks.
Donnay Symmonds recently said to me, “Why must you hurt someone to achieve behavioural change? That is not how it should work.” In addition, according to Jared Spencer, flogging is a shameful reminder of our colonial past and slavery. It is an inexcusable way to punish children and is a short-term solution rather than a long-term one.
Those who support a “good hot set of lashes” cite the following reasons for maintaining corporal punishment as an valuable way to punish.
Ravina cited that corporal punishment must first be distinguished from physical abuse and in her household it is, and was never done to the extent where it could ever be likened to abuse.
Many believe that according to the Bible, if you “spare the rod, you spoil the child”.
One self-confessed supporter of “a good set of hot licks” lamented that the majority of persons who are against corporal punishment do not have children and once they get children their position changes.
Interestingly enough, many people still believe that corporal punishment is an effective deterrent.
Ravina stated that there have been instances where students have skipped classes and in an effort to find alternative measures of reprimand, administrators resorted to suspending students from school. This, in turn, gives students the same opportunity they wanted – to not go to class.
Some people claim that therapy is a great alternative to flogging. My question here is how do persons who cannot afford therapy deal with children who have behavioural issues?
Let us say that you have a child who throws a tantrum in Cave Shepherd, screaming for a toy you specially said he or she could not have. What is the best way to deal with this situation?
When I asked this in our office, I got various responses. One person suggested parents give the child a stern look and the child would then know to behave. Another said that they recommend secretly giving the child a hard pinch. I pondered at the latter response because I would think that this would make the child behave worse. This is although I have memories of being in Mount Tabor Church and if I dared to turn around during the church service my great-grandmother would pinch me and I knew never to do it again in life from that single pinch. However, each child is different.
There is also the ‘shame factor’ that emerges when administering corporal punishment in public. If a child is screaming and behaving unacceptably, it is embarrassing. I recall reading that a famous celebrity’s child was so embarrassing at a fashion show that fashion gurus were considering banning the presence of toddlers at further events. I know of churches which have policies against children throwing tantrums in church. I agree with this latter policy. A church is a place of reverence and why should persons who are in the House of the Lord have to endure the screams and hollers of a child when the parent could simply take him or her outside to calm down?
I have no children so my opinion would be based on my personal experience when I was child. I got a lot of lashes from my mother and probably one set from my father. I do agree with corporal punishment but not where it blurs the line with abuse. I do believe that there are many instances where corporal punishment does not and cannot work and for those instances perhaps grounding, therapy and firm discussion would be more effective.
Toni Thorne is a young entrepreneur and World Economic Forum Global Shaper who loves global youth culture, a great debate and living in paradise. Email Tonithorne@hotmail.com.