Corporal Punishment. Good or bad idea?
December 12th 2008 07:39
I was flogged as a child, not by my parents, but by the monks where I was schooled. They were very good at it too. A debate is beginning again, as to the rights of a parent to physically discipline their child. How do you feel about that?
Photo Credit: LINK public domain
I personally say it depends on how the punishment is exacted. I have clear memories of the few times I was smacked by a parent, and the idea that they were angry with me far outweighed the physical hurt, which of course was negligible, as they used an open hand to the clothed bottom, or a slap on the back of my hand.
The humiliation also added to the trauma of being physically punished by someone who usually loves and protects you.
However, the parent handing their child over to a private school, to punish at will and for any reason, as it was done in my early school days, was another matter.
Photo Credit: GNU Free Documentation
LINK creativecommons.org licenses
Source Author LINK Neitram
Some of the monks you could quite clearly see enjoyed their corporal punishment work! One could debate, that the glistening glint in their eye, was merely the Holy Spirit's zeal to flog God into the little heathen standing before the cane, and that may have been true for some, but definitely, some enjoyed flogging little boys!
After I left that monks' school, I attended a school run by priests, in another State, so I had a comparison in punishment styles. I think the priests were the worst, for obvious enjoyment of inflicting pain. They also had a different form of punishment, they used a strap, which was made of leather, the edges of which were heavily sewn together.
The straps differed in size, length and thickness. One priest loved his strap, it was oiled, long and slender, rather like his demeanour actually, a very 'oily' customer indeed, who showed the most obvious lust for delivering pain. In retrospect, I wonder what other sort of thing he would have liked to inflict on the boys?
I was severely flogged once, done with much more gusto than normal. It wasn't fair, I was in a bored reverie, day dreaming during the Consecration Mass of the new school chapel, and so, absentmindedly followed mother's instructions, ("Whenever you are bored, draw!"), so I drew a picture of a house on the new Huon Pine prayer ledge.
As I grew up in a family of artists, what I did next makes sense. I liked it so much, I signed it! I was in Grade Three at the time.
I still bare a reminder of that day, on my right palm. A vein in my hand was ruptured, and formed an eyot, a pooled section where the vein wall collapsed and bulges outwards. It is subtle, but it can be seen still, some 44 years later.
Photo Credit: Date ca. 1907 Author Unsure - from George Grantham Bain Collection.
Copyright expired: LINK public domain
I just know the monks would have loved to have had one of these in the school yard!
One was excused bad hand writing for the rest of the day, after a flogging. The cane was by far the most superior weapon for inflicting damage, although, some straps I found out came close, particularly when the master had ensured the leather strap was as stiff as an iron bar, by immersing it in vinegar, and allowing it to dry out.
Some priests, if really riled, would turn their strap mid air, so it landed edgeways on your palm, or wrist. That really did do some damage!
Those were the days!
However, as for smacking one's own child, if done for the right reason, and done in an appropriate very limited way, never excessively, so no injury is sustained, and if done at the right age so as to impress discipline and respect, I do not see it as a problem, nor anyone's business, except that of the parent.
However, how does one get it across to parents that there is a definite line to draw, between a small and suitable physical reprimand, used as an absolute last resort, and indulging in sadistic abusive behaviour towards their child?
I have no answer for these questions. I do know that the child must understand and communicate clearly before one could even consider such a reprimand. But, I also know some people should not have children, as they cannot mentally cope with the demands of children, and some others are just psychopaths, who cannot understand what they are doing is dangerous, harmful and wrong.
What is the answer for you?
Is your adage, "spare the rod and spoil the child?" Or is there another way, as a dear friend of mine is using, which takes a great deal of reasoning, patience and persistence?
I do know this, from my own experience, my parents' reprimands were always appropriate, because they loved me. The monks and priests, did not! All they taught me, by their sadistic behaviour, was a distrust and disrespect for certain authority types, and a fear of schooling. I hated going to school, I hated knowing I was going to be flogged for talking, for running, for looking out the window, for bad handwriting, for bad marks, poor homework, the list was endless.
We banned corporal punishment in schools in Australia in 1980. That was a good day for all school kids and in my opinion, the right decision.
Some would say not, as the behaviour of kids in schools has deteriorated. I say, this has happened because parents are taking less responsibility in disciplining their children at home, before they start schooling, and some parents are imbuing their children with their own cultural intolerances, which can manifest in conflicts within a multicultural school enviroment.
What do you think?
Canes, some monks would have coveted!
I personally say it depends on how the punishment is exacted. I have clear memories of the few times I was smacked by a parent, and the idea that they were angry with me far outweighed the physical hurt, which of course was negligible, as they used an open hand to the clothed bottom, or a slap on the back of my hand.
The humiliation also added to the trauma of being physically punished by someone who usually loves and protects you.
However, the parent handing their child over to a private school, to punish at will and for any reason, as it was done in my early school days, was another matter.
The monks used varying lengths and thickness of cane
LINK creativecommons.org licenses
Source Author LINK Neitram
Some of the monks you could quite clearly see enjoyed their corporal punishment work! One could debate, that the glistening glint in their eye, was merely the Holy Spirit's zeal to flog God into the little heathen standing before the cane, and that may have been true for some, but definitely, some enjoyed flogging little boys!
After I left that monks' school, I attended a school run by priests, in another State, so I had a comparison in punishment styles. I think the priests were the worst, for obvious enjoyment of inflicting pain. They also had a different form of punishment, they used a strap, which was made of leather, the edges of which were heavily sewn together.
The straps differed in size, length and thickness. One priest loved his strap, it was oiled, long and slender, rather like his demeanour actually, a very 'oily' customer indeed, who showed the most obvious lust for delivering pain. In retrospect, I wonder what other sort of thing he would have liked to inflict on the boys?
I was severely flogged once, done with much more gusto than normal. It wasn't fair, I was in a bored reverie, day dreaming during the Consecration Mass of the new school chapel, and so, absentmindedly followed mother's instructions, ("Whenever you are bored, draw!"), so I drew a picture of a house on the new Huon Pine prayer ledge.
As I grew up in a family of artists, what I did next makes sense. I liked it so much, I signed it! I was in Grade Three at the time.
I still bare a reminder of that day, on my right palm. A vein in my hand was ruptured, and formed an eyot, a pooled section where the vein wall collapsed and bulges outwards. It is subtle, but it can be seen still, some 44 years later.
Delaware Gaol Scaffold with stocks and flogging pole
Photo Credit: Date ca. 1907 Author Unsure - from George Grantham Bain Collection.
Copyright expired: LINK public domain
I just know the monks would have loved to have had one of these in the school yard!
One was excused bad hand writing for the rest of the day, after a flogging. The cane was by far the most superior weapon for inflicting damage, although, some straps I found out came close, particularly when the master had ensured the leather strap was as stiff as an iron bar, by immersing it in vinegar, and allowing it to dry out.
Some priests, if really riled, would turn their strap mid air, so it landed edgeways on your palm, or wrist. That really did do some damage!
Those were the days!
However, as for smacking one's own child, if done for the right reason, and done in an appropriate very limited way, never excessively, so no injury is sustained, and if done at the right age so as to impress discipline and respect, I do not see it as a problem, nor anyone's business, except that of the parent.
However, how does one get it across to parents that there is a definite line to draw, between a small and suitable physical reprimand, used as an absolute last resort, and indulging in sadistic abusive behaviour towards their child?
I have no answer for these questions. I do know that the child must understand and communicate clearly before one could even consider such a reprimand. But, I also know some people should not have children, as they cannot mentally cope with the demands of children, and some others are just psychopaths, who cannot understand what they are doing is dangerous, harmful and wrong.
What is the answer for you?
Is your adage, "spare the rod and spoil the child?" Or is there another way, as a dear friend of mine is using, which takes a great deal of reasoning, patience and persistence?
I do know this, from my own experience, my parents' reprimands were always appropriate, because they loved me. The monks and priests, did not! All they taught me, by their sadistic behaviour, was a distrust and disrespect for certain authority types, and a fear of schooling. I hated going to school, I hated knowing I was going to be flogged for talking, for running, for looking out the window, for bad handwriting, for bad marks, poor homework, the list was endless.
We banned corporal punishment in schools in Australia in 1980. That was a good day for all school kids and in my opinion, the right decision.
Some would say not, as the behaviour of kids in schools has deteriorated. I say, this has happened because parents are taking less responsibility in disciplining their children at home, before they start schooling, and some parents are imbuing their children with their own cultural intolerances, which can manifest in conflicts within a multicultural school enviroment.
What do you think?
| 39 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Dianna G
I Wish This Was 42
Fictional Worlds
~Dianna
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
yeah, it is a very difficult situation, that, if one had level headed and kindly parents, one would know that when, and if, they needed to give their child a small slap on the wrist or bottom, that it would not be excessive, and would probably be only needed once in the child's life.
Probably more a problem is emotional abuse, which just about everyone of my era copped, from virtually everybody!
The child was never right back then! We seem to have swung too far in the other direction now, as it seems we do with almost everything in life.
cheers
fog