Corporal Punishment In Schools

[tiggerblue10]

What are your thoughts on this and would you be happy to see it introduced in the UK?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/25/missouri-school-district-reinstates-spanking

[piggynose]

The thrashing I received from my parents and the caning I got at school never done me any harm!
I quickly learnt my lesson!

[gness]

Snap, MissT! I smacked my son once about forty five years ago and still regret it. What he did can't have been as bad as hitting a child in temper. I was the one to learn a lesson and my daughter has never been smacked.

[david small]

As a recipient of various forms of corporal punishment on several occasions, I would state that it did cause me to behave as required, fall in line, so to speak.
Both at home and at school one refrained from painful corrections.
So, yes bring back pain for those that inflict pain on others.

[gness]

Andy and I agree! :-)

Violence breeds violence. You can know that without working in a school, meeting the parents and realising then why the child you're speaking about thinks it's okay to hit, kick and spit at others.

[MissTerious]

I worked I schools to Gness, both primary and secondary and also acted as a mentor in secondary. Yes you are right!

[davebro]

I got the cane once in school - one strike on the hand. Never risked it a second time!

[MissTerious]

I loved both parents and the were good parents. My mum was the smacker, my dad never smacked. As I grew older I had more respect for my Dad. Mum had a fiery temper. Her smacks were hard enough to leave red marks so I would lock myself in the bathroom until she calmed down.

[burlyshirley1]

I'm all for it. Society has dipped very badly since schoolkids were given 'rights'. They are too young to appreciate they have rights and they abuse it to the max. I remember when some idiot decreed that if a kid is smacked by a parent, said kid can call the police. A friend of mine at the time had a lad of about 15 and he was a holy terror, totally out of control and one day when his Nan was visiting he pushed his Mum and she fell to the floor, his Nan gave him a well deserved clip around the ear and what did he do, promptly rang the police and told them he had been assaulted !! Luckily, the policeman who attended was a sensible, wise and kindly man and took in the size of the 15 year old and his little Nan and gave the youth a right lecture and told him off for pushing over his Mum, and not to dare call him or any other coppers again and to have more respect for his Mum. You see, he was a product of the do-gooding society of the right on pc lot and he (like many others still do) milked it to the max. My Dad used to smack me and my brother, a smack, not a beating, and while of course, we didn't like it, we still grew up loving Dad and had respect (that sadly, is what's missing today) and now years on after his death, I still mourn his loss. In other words, I didn't love him less because I got the odd smack, usually on my backside, when I was naughty !

Personally though, I can't ever see this being brought back, it's way too late now, the damage has been done.

[MissTerious]

So David you believe parents and teachers who inflict pain on kids should get the same treatment?

[andy-hughes]

This debate is like several others that crop up on here regularly.

It polarises into two opposite camps -

One who think that capital punishment 'never did them any harm' and it's a good idea ...

And the other who think that hitting children is abhorrent and belongs to a darker age.

The simple fact is, neither is going to change the view of the other.

I have expressed my view, there is really nothing I can add.

[Zacs-Master]

Andy - Isn't that applicable to 90% of posts on here?

[gness]

I wonder, MissT if those who complain about the behaviour and violence of some young people and think that hitting them would sort it out, ever ask if that behaviour and violence actually comes from being beaten at home?

[andy-hughes]

Zacs - // Andy - Isn't that applicable to 90% of posts on here? //

It probably is, but I always think that some subjects have views beyond change - this is one of them.

[youngmafbog]

//Violence breeds violence.//

So explain why kids of today are violent?

Being too soft doesn't work either does it?

[HeavensToBetsy]

Davebro:

// Wackford Squeers didn't get much backchat till that do-gooder Nickleby came along //

That's a rather inaccurate reading of Nicholas Nickleby, Dave. Squeers locks Smike in a cellar for running away, and releases him only to start to beating him, whereupon Nickleby beats Squeers senseless. Squeers was a bully and a tyrant and deserved everything he got.

[choux]

I was never smacked as a child either at home or school. However, I knew that if I over-stepped particular marks I might get smacked. That made sure I always behaved up to the line. I was bullied - even assaulted once - by children of a similar age.

Perhaps if smacking was allowed once more, there might be less involvement for police and magistrates and bullies in school might think twice.

We should worry about the smackers not the smacks but
I seriously believe Ester Rantzen has a lot to answer for. Some of today's children appear to be feral.

[gness]

As I've said, ymb. We could often tell which children were beaten at home by their behaviour in school. You can't say that children are never hurt by parents and that's where they learn that behaviour?

It was the same with language. It didn't take long, talking to a parent once about their child's constant swearing, to know why he did it. I was told that the little b*****r didn't ****** well hear it at home.

[Electrochem]

I was caned at junior school in 1959 for writing on a piece of blotting paper and in 1962 at secondary school for not doing a piece of homework. It hurt and it was humiliating. At secondary school, there were teachers who took great delight in inflicting severe canings and these were often carried out on the same pupils. My wife taught for many years and never saw the need to use corporal punishment.

[bhg481]

choux - my feelings exactly.

[Ellipsis]

Hmm, some double standards in play here I think!

When people inflict violence on others who may not be entirely blameless (in some opinions), but certainly haven't used violence themselves, they are berated.

But it's acceptable to hit a small child with a paddle????

Tell me, if somebody reached their limit with you, would it be OK for them to hit you with a paddle "as a last resort"? And if not, why is it OK to hit a small child?