Corporal punishment in schools: What's your stance?

What and absurd question !.............The answer is and UNQUALIFIED 'NO".............................There are many pro-active ways to manage a students mis-behaviour, or lack of motivation . . . . . . . . . .. Corporal punishments damages the individual at multiple levels, and creates an atmosphere that normalizes violence ...................................

I am not opposed to limited corporal punishment for young children when administered by a responsible parent under certain circumstances. However, I would never permit others to make such a decision in my place. Teachers carry a certain amount of parental power and responsibility over their students, but corporal punishment is taking "en loco parentis" too far.

Corporal punishment was common practice in schools when I was growing up in Australia. It was even considered cool by the tough kids to be stood up in front of the class and given "six of the best,' as we used to call putting out hand out for the strap. I can't say I enjoyed it but it did make me behave myself in class.

in school or elsewhere, absolutely NO.

My stance. Hey, it is illegal. That means it violates the law if you do it. If you do you are a criminal.

The fact that taibatsu is clearly illegal in Japan has not stopped generations of teachers from beating up pupils, sometimes seriously and sometimes killing them. Brutal teachers, far from being treated as criminals at their schools are often respected as "hot" (dedicated, earnest) teachers. Often parents respect these monsters, thinking that this is how their child will get the discipline to get into a famous university.

In a parallel non-Japan Today universe I have written a great deal on the subject of taibatsu. Students have told of physically cruel acts that border o perversion. What constantly amazes me is that not only the hordes sadistic teachers but also the principals and school boards that support them have not filled the prisons of Japan.

Corporal punishment is a clear violation of the law. Yet it not only happens but is tacitly encouraged. This problem highlights the ambiguous attitude toward the law that Japanese have. This goes from illegal parking to violations of the Constitution. If there is no one standing there ready to punish you the unspoken rule is you can violate laws that happen to be inconvenient to you. In close-knit organizations the unspoken rule often is that there is the law and then there is way we do things. This has been the status of taibatsu it Japanese schools. This is the way we do things. This is how we get results. Complain and nothing will change, except that your child will get a bad naishinso (secret report) that will be read by an potential universities to which you child applies.

The Japan Times has an article online about the creepy coach in Osaka who is justifying himself for beating pupils, saying it works. That what he is doing is illegal seems not to phase him.

Finally Osaka's Mayor Hashimoto has done something I can approve of. He apologized to the parents of the boy who killed himself because of this evil, evil basketball coach.

Recent studies have shown that children who are physically punished are prone to depression and aggressive behavior. Japanese schools are not only creating broken children they are also creating monsters.

There are those who say that they were punished at school with "6 of the best" - with a hand or a cane or a strap, on the hand or leg or bottom - and it never did them any harm, was in fact a sign of being cool.

And one poster above is not opposed to limited corporal punishment if controlled, and limited.

In Japan, from what I've seen, the problem is the lack of control, the lack of thought, the lack of limits, and the lack of consistency - not just corporal, but any punishment.

Kids slapped and kicked and hit in public, non-stop, by teachers in an absolute rage, out of control - this is absolutely forbidden by schools, and when it happens you might see another teacher weakly try to step in. But it still happens, and if you ask an older teacher, they'll support it as a good method of discipline.

Kids screamed and yelled at until they cry. Kids made to kneel before the teacher while being told off. This is the acceptable punishment - one of public humiliation, to show up the student as the weaker one, the loser. This is the approved method, from what I can tell, not only at schools (teacher-student and student-student), but in homes and offices too, among adult peers.

The real problem for me is not whether children are punished (be it verbally or physically), it's how it's done. And how it's done, is without forethought, without consideration of its effects, without controls,without proper limits or supervision or follow-up. Is there any focus on child psychology in teacher-training here? I doubt it.

Most of you who have posted your opinions about this being all these things that makes a child become some sort of emotional and mental broken adult. I m pretty sure your of the doctor Phil era. And long before him was doctor Spock, not Star Track. A doctor who claimed he had all the right answers for how to raise a child. Take a look at the mess he made of generations of kids, that parents followed along with.

Do you know the term, "Everything in moderation" and with good conscious? Please get off the soap box of how the child will become a psychopath because he got his butt whacked for misbehaving at home or in school.

America has taken away a lot of rights of parents to discipline their own children without fear of being charged with a crime for doing so. Think that a lot of the rude and no manners kids and kids with guns are the kids of parents who disciplined their kids with a whack now and then? Or are they the kids that were told, Oh it's okay Johnny, you don't have to say sorry for pushing down the teacher. It's the teacher fault that she didn't balance herself. Make it the other person's fault mentally. Raising your child not to take responsibility for what they do.

Won't the psychology, sociology, anthropology experts declare corporal punishment damaging perpetrators & victims & society!? And repeat repeat repeat so we never forget it? Keep people in line with carrots & fines. Only very warped should be locked up. I think warped are warped by corporal punishment.

In Japan corporal punishment Hell YES. There always has been and it should remain. You mess up you get smacked. Its normal. So all of you who oppose it who cares are stupid.

At School absolutely not. At Clubs after school, absolutely not. On the train, bus, or subway, absolutely not. In the workplace, absolutely not.

Discipline at home should be enforced by the parents. Some choose to smack, I personally do not see that as corporal punishment.

No. Just no. My school had corporal punishment. It taught me only one lesson, that life isn't fair, and that authority figures are rarely correct in their judgements. Teachers reached the "easy" conclusion far too quickly, without pausing to ask hard questions like, "Is the accuser telling the truth", tended to side with the accuser even when there was no evidence, and dealt out punishment rapidly, allowing no time for an appeal or for the accused to collect evidence. It happened several times that I was accused of things I didn't do. A simple example, once one of the bullies in the class "borrowed" my homework book, resulting in me getting six of the best in front of the whole class... despite me protesting that I had done the homework. A few minutes later the bully taunted me, and in front of the whole class and the teacher I up-ended his bag and produced my homework book (with the completed homework)... the teacher's response, "Well, you should take more care where you put your things".

Yeah, real fair, but the teacher, having already made a judgement and given punishment, couldn't back down or he'd lose authority.

No, stressed, over-worked teachers are NOT in a suitable position to hand out punishment, particularly not humiliating and painful punishments like corporal punishment. Teachers should teach, that's what they're trained for, that's what they are good at. Call in the police if there are criminal matters to deal with like assault (what bullying SHOULD be called), theft, etc.

If you need to hit a child to make them listen, you are a failure at teaching or parenting. Indeed, I can understand how parents lose it sometimes and give a quick smack but a teacher? Hell no. Never. If you can't control the students it is because they don't respect you. If you don't respect you, get a new job as clearly you aren't a good teacher.

What is going on in these schools is not "corporal punishment".

Corporal punishment was once a means to teach boundaries. The offender learned what is unacceptable behavior, and that it has consequences- It is now illegal to use this kind of physical force, and since, other methods to teach the same concept of personal responsibility, are used; detention, extra homework, and in extreme cases, suspension or expelling...

What does indiscriminate daily smacking, kicking, loud verbal abuse, and humiliation of students, by a sports "coach", with complicity of other teachers, the BoE, and even parents, teach?

It teaches fear, low-self worth, hopelessness, and saps the will to live.

There is a difference, and it needs to be addressed!

guilt-tripping and instilling fear is much more powerful than smacking your kid around

Corporal punishment NO.

However student's have to be held responsible for their actions and there has to be a penalty system in place to punish those that refuse to follow or break school rules. In the Japanese schools legally there is little teachers can do beyond talking to students. The students causing problems become immune and deaf to the constant lecturing and continue to do what they want.

Typically in Japan the pendulum swings drastically from one side to the other with it rarely settling in the middle on issues like this one.

A good wack under the ear hole or a hot bottom never hurt any one in moderation.

My elementary school principal wacked my bare bottom with a long wooden board about a dozen times for doodling in class. I told him I would make sure he would be sorry for doing this in the future. I never did, but I hope I planted the haunting thought in his stupid mind, ha ha!

I was hit by a cane, leather belt and made to stand with arms outstretched holding hardback bibles for 5 minutes for failing to remember chapter and verse by heart. Sick men - corporal punishment tells us quite a lot about those who dish it out.

I got the cane once or twice in Primary School. I knew it was a consequence of poor behaviour and I was scared of it, so I mostly behaved very well. I also knew that if I got it, it was because I had behaved poorly. The same happened in boarding school - I remember getting belted on the a** with my own cricket bat, having kneeled on concrete for 2 hours for some indescretion. My recollection of that is that it was tough, but fair. I knew the consequence, misbehaved, got caught and paid the price. It taught me about consequences and it didn't scar me.

My Dad, who was a fair minded, affectionate and even tempered man smacked me from time to time when I was naughty, and once or twice gave me the strap as an older kid. I always knew he did it because I had done the wrong thing, and I never resented him for it.

As it happens, I am now a High School teacher. I see kids whose parents can't or don't discipline their kids whatsoever. To compound that problem, many of them will defend their child at all costs when they are in trouble. The result is a section of kids who cannot accept boundaries, who believe their rights are far, far more important than their responsibilities, who have no emotional resilience and who can be very, very selfish people. The schools have lost the power to be tough on kids and subsequently have become institutions that have lost a sense of standing they once had.

Parents are also scared to descipline their kids for a variety of well documented reasons.

Indescriminate corporal punishment is not helpful. I grew up in the tail end of corporal punishment in schools and it didn't do me many harm. But it won't ever return. It's a different time now. But I strongly believe both students AND their parents need to be responsible for their actions - schools still need to be places where people learn valuable life lessons.

Yubaru, I 100% agree. Guess who took all the power away from the teachers? The parents. The fact that teachers can't even kick out disruptive students from class is pathetic. "Students have a right to be the classroom". WTFF is that about? Shouldn't the other students "have a right" to a well behaved class instead of being stuck with some jack*ss Taro who can't behave?

Detention? Nope. They have club. Punishment like cleaning the bathroom alone? Nope. Cleaning is a job for all the students and we can't single them out. A good telling off? Nope. Their feelings might get hurt. Homework? Nope. They have juku...

So what exactly is a teacher supposed to do and what can they do? Hitting is out of the question in my opinion but what other options are there?

tmarieJan. 13, 2013 - 07:40PM JST So what exactly is a teacher supposed to do and what can they do? Hitting is out of the question in my opinion but what other options are there?

A small correction, and one that people often miss, children have a right to an education, not the right to be in a class they're disrupting and thereby denying other children their right to education. Put them in the library for the day. Make it clear that there will be no make-up classes, and that they have access to a wealth of knowledge... all they have to do is take responsibility for their own education.

The RIGHT to education comes with the RESPONSIBILITY to ownership of your own education. Access to a teacher who's time you waste is NOT a right. Every right is balanced by a responsibility. This is likewise something that people seem to have lost sight of in this day and age.

When I was at secondary school in the late 70s and early 80s we still had the belt/strap, which I got a couple of times... and it was purely a power thing by the teacher (the same French teacher did it twice). First time he belted the entire class because some of us failed a mock test. He said we didn't do our homework. Second time was because someone armpit farted in class. No-one would own up to it so he belted us all.

You don't instill discipline through violence and fear. All it did with me was to make drop French as soon as I could. Other teachers would give a 100 lines to write out in addition to homework. However, since they banned the belt in Scottish schools I've seen the kids becoming more and more disrespectful to adults, as if they actually look down on us. They know they are untouchable.

I don't know what the solution is, but I DO know that beating and verbally abusing kids in their charge is not the way for teachers to behave. I think the sports teachers/coaches are the worst examples I've heard about... they seem to have this macho attitude that if you aren't good at sports you are a complete loser. So they bully those who are less able to run fast, kick a ball straight or climb a rope...

In a nut shell, corporal punishment and constant reprimanding should not be a part of any education curriculum when children are in school and in a stage of development. If students are always scolded, rebuked in public or hit, deep scars develop and they will just compound in time. All it does is induce confusion, rejection, pain, and insecurity and nothing else. It can lead to low self-esteem, increased aggression, depression and unfortunately to suicide. This will cause irreparable emotional damage to young people. There are better and more effective ways to enforce discipline period.

Frungy, while I 100% agree with you about your responsibility, it doesn't happen - be it here, the US, UK... The only places where I really see kids taking responsibility for their education are in developing or under developed nations because they aren't spoiled and understand the important of an education. Japan is actually pretty bad in this because there is ZERO responsibility given to students here. Mom or teacher does everything for them and they haven't a clue what it means to take responsibility for anything, let alone their education. Spoon fed and over scheduled so no freedom to take responsibility.

My understanding of the rule is that teachers are not allowed to remove students from the class. They aren't allowed to ask students to go tot he library to study. The only way this is ever done is with the parents permission. You can't get that in class while trying to teach. It is a crazy rule and one that needs to be done away with.

Noven, what are the more effective ways? I've given a list of things we do "back home" that can't be done here. Of course, the best thing to do is run an effective classroom. Personally, I've never had too many issues with discipline because the line gets drawn the first day and they seem to know not to cross that line.

However, this is a different situation. This kid wasn't for being bad, he was hit because some narrow minded bully wanted to "toughen" him up.

Not necessary in schools at all. There are other methods of "pursuasion" that don't involve physical abuse. There is no reason to be "toughening up" students.

BrainiacJAN. 13, 2013 - 08:07AM JST Corporal punishment was common practice in schools when I was growing up in Australia. It was even considered cool by the tough kids to be stood up in front of the class and given "six of the best,' as we used to call putting out hand out for the strap. I can't say I enjoyed it but it did make me behave myself in class.

Yes Brainiac we too in Fiji have corporal punishment. Over there our teachers get the 1 meter ruler on our bottoms or palms in front of the class for any bad actions. It still exists today. It was a good thing, kept discipline and made students behave, taught respect and made us better so we could respect others as we grew older. It still exists today.

However, back in those days teachers who dealt out corporal punishment actually knew how to give it. 1,2,3 whacks and go sit outside class and that was really it. Parents would come pick the kids up after school and find out what their child did, again they'd get a few more whacks from the parents as well.

Problem is these days now you have a few bad teachers using it to abuse students for their own stress release or power trip. And they use it for things not acceptable. For example the boy in Osaka in the basketball team just because he was not doing well in the coaches eyes, that's just crazy and the coach should be held criminally responsible for that.

I give you an example of what is acceptable. My wife was a teacher here. One day in her class, a male student was very bravely degrading and calling out names on another student who was handicapped in a wheel chair. As she caught him in the act, she walked over to his desk and gave one good whack on his face and made him go sit outside class all day. From that day on, he never pulled that stunt again. And that type of corporal punishment is absolutely acceptable any day.

Kids these days are way too spoiled, they grow up spoiled, have no respect towards others because of all the freedom they are given.

The young generation can't see this or get it. Most of the old generation know this though and can see what their countries are becoming.

Violence breeds violence. It should b a taboo in society and taught as wrong from childhood.

Let me clarify my previous posting. Corporal punishment is forbidden specifically by Article 11 of the Japanese Education Law. This is something that every licensed teacher is supposed to know. It is also a fact that this law has been knowing violated in Japan's public and private schools. Teachers who practice taibatsu are guilty of a criminal act.

Once, after a corporal punishment in grade school, they had me kiss the young teacher on the cheek................ Hmmmmmmmmm.....................................