School corporal punishment

School corporal punishment is the deliberate infliction of physical pain as a response to undesired behavior by students. The term corporal punishment derives from the Latin word for the "body", corpus. In schools it may involve striking the student on the buttocks or on the palms of their hands[1][2] with an implement such as a rattan cane, wooden paddle, slipper, leather strap or wooden yardstick. Less commonly, it could also include spanking or smacking the student with an open hand, especially at the kindergarten, primary school, or other more junior levels.[3]

Much of the traditional culture that surrounds corporal punishment in school, at any rate in the English-speaking world, derives largely from British practice in the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly as regards the caning of teenage boys.[4] There is a vast amount of literature on this, in both popular and serious culture.[5][6]

In the English-speaking world, the use of corporal punishment in schools has historically been justified by the common-law doctrine in loco parentis, whereby teachers are considered authority figures granted the same rights as parents to discipline and punish children in their care if they do not adhere to the set rules. A similar justification exists in Chinese-speaking countries.[7] It lets school officials stand in for parents as comparable authority figures.[8] The doctrine has its origins in an English common-law precedent of 1770.[9]

Advocates of school corporal punishment[who?] argue that it provides an immediate response to indiscipline so that the student is quickly back in the classroom learning, unlike suspension from school. Opponents, including many medical and psychological societies, along with human-rights groups, argue that physical punishment is ineffective in the long term, interferes with learning, leads to antisocial behavior as well as causing low self-esteem and other forms of mental distress, and is a form of violence that breaches the rights of children.[10]

Poland was the first nation to outlaw corporal punishment in schools in 1783.[1] School corporal punishment is no longer legal in European countries except for Belarus, Vatican City (however there are no primary or secondary schools in Vatican) and unrecognized Transnistria. By 2016, an estimated 128 countries had prohibited corporal punishment in schools, including nearly all of Europe, and most of South America and East Asia. Approximately 69 countries still allow for corporal punishment in schools, including parts of the United States and many countries in Africa and Asia.[11]

  1. ^ See e.g. Student/Parent Information Guide and Code of Conduct 2008-2009 Archived 24 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Alexander City Schools, Alabama, USA, p.44.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference toronto was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ https://brainly.in/question/18453211
  4. ^ "United Kingdom: Corporal punishment in schools". World Corporal Punishment Research.
  5. ^ Quigly, Isabel (1984). The Heirs of Tom Brown: The English School Story. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-281404-4
  6. ^ Chandos, John (1984). Boys Together: English Public Schools 1800-1864. London: Hutchinson, esp. chapter 11. ISBN 0-09-139240-3
  7. ^ Lu, Joy (27 May 2006). "Spare the rod and spoil the child?". China Daily. Beijing. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pediatricians was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference SAM2003 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Gershoff, E.T. & Font, S.A. (2016). "Corporal punishment in U.S. public schools: Prevalence, disparities in use, and status in state and federal policy" (PDF). Social Policy Report. 30: 1–26. doi:10.1002/j.2379-3988.2016.tb00086.x. PMC 5766273. PMID 29333055.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Gershoff, Elizabeth (2017). "School corporal punishment in global perspective: prevalence, outcomes, and efforts at intervention". Psychology, Health & Medicine. 22 (sup1): sup1, 224–239. doi:10.1080/13548506.2016.1271955. PMC 5560991. PMID 28064515.