Corporal punishment in schools
Name(s):
Flogging in schools
Beating school students
Caning in schools
Physical punishment of students
Nature
Schools may condone or even encourage the physical punishment of students. Hitting a child, either with the hand or with a implement ([eg] a cane, rod, or strap), forcing a child to assume physically debilitating positions ([eg] kneeling, holding the arms above the head), subjecting a child to physical dangers ([eg] holding a live electrical wire, forcing the ingestion of purgatives), or otherwise assaulting a child: physical abuse is considered an appropriate means to exact obedience and respect from the child.
Background
Corporal punishment in schools was traditionally used to teach students to be loyal to nation and sovereign, unquestioningly obedient and hardened to physical pain.
Incidence
Although Japanese law prohibits corporal punishment in schools, statistics show that one Japanese student dies at the hands of a teacher every two years. Popular opinion is still in favour of corporal punishment: when a 16 year old girl died after her teacher slammed her head against a stone pillar because she did not agree that her skirt was too short, some 75,000 people across the country signed a petition supporting the teacher.
Counter-claim
1. Schools should never be forced to abandon corporal punishment. Men know how to control other men: fatherless boys respond to physical punishment rather than isolation or the attentions of child psychologists. You need controlled physical pain.
2. Corporal punishment is a necessary tool of classroom control. Some students are simply too stubborn to listen to the teacher; they deserve to be severely punished.
Value(s)
Type
(E) Emanations of other problems