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Should Corporal Punishment Be Illegal?

Essay by   •  March 20, 2011  •  694 Words (3 Pages)  •  1,614 Views

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Should Corporal Punishment be illegal?

In order to answer this question we need to some definitions. What does the word 'corporal' mean? For the purpose of this essay we define corporal relating to the body. The word 'illegal' means prohibited by the law. And by the phrase 'corporal punishment' we mean pain inflicted on the body, like canning. How else are we supposed to teach a child the difference between right and wrong? How can teachers establish order in the classroom? Corporal punishment has been banned in all civilized countries since 1986.

We will look at the case against corporal punishment. The most important reason is that hitting a child doesn't help solve anything. It doesn't teach the child the difference between right and wrong. It won't teach the child why the adult is displeased.

Secondly, as older children are smarter and more observant, corporal punishment inflicted on them can almost certainly lead to bitterness and probably even more bad behaviour than before, as a result, later in life. They will grow up believe that violence is the right way to solve things. To finalize the point, I want to state that a parent or any adult, to a child, is a role model. As evidenced before, role models are extremely important, particularly to children. They look upon them for examples of what to do in certain situations

Thirdly, corporal punishment can mentally as well as physically harm the child; though the mental damage will definitely have a more lasting impact than the physical damage. Cuts and bruises can heal, but the memory of being beaten can never go away.

Now we will look at the case against for corporal punishment. Firstly I would state that corporal punishment is very different to child abuse. Child abuse is different from corporal punishment (they even have different names!). Child abuse is when children are physically hurt with no intention of teaching them anything at all. This could also be classified as aggression as there is no purpose in the abuse. Corporal punishment however, is different because there is a purpose in the punishment: to teach the child what is wrong and what not to do again. This will also lead them to learn that bad behaviour can lead to punishment. There are other methods of discipline as well, such as confinement but when all else has failed, the parent must resort to corporal punishment. But he has to make certain that the child knows what he's

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