In previous century, it was a typical practice to use physical strength for punishing nasty students for their disobedience. Corporal punishment was the favorite tool for keeping the class in order for most teachers. Educators never lost the opportunity to punish children for misbehaving, not learned material, or even inattentiveness, which is the reason why this kind of punishment became famous for its cruelty and harm for kids` psychology. Despite its ambiguity, this issue needs some research as it has both pros and cons.
To begin with, the only potential advantage of corporal punishment is based on the fact that in this case teachers can have the effective tool of influence on students inclined to misbehave, act violently, or disrupt lessons. Being able to apply corporal punishment to such students can guarantee obedience and calm atmosphere in class.
Although there are still proponents of using physical strength against children as a pedagogical method, the vast majority of teachers deny it as being inhumane. It should be mentioned that corporal punishment brings more harm than positive results, making kids suffer from physical pain and mental anguish. Many students, who underwent such punishment, have mental and psychological problems in their adult life, not being able to forget the horrible experience. What is more, kids, who already fell victims to such `˜educational` treatment, may skip even more classes because they know that coming to school may bring more pain and humiliation.
Furthermore, constant physical acts of violence against children may lead to the abuse in the classroom as some teachers in the state of rage may lose self-control and apply too much strength, which may cause terrible results for kid`s health. Giving teachers too much power when it comes to suppressing their students physically cannot be justified as it can easily cause injustice.
Moreover, corporal punishment proves to be totally ineffective. If an educator wants to punish a student because he/she doesn`t acknowledge the authority, using physical power and strength against a kid will not save the situation; it will only worsen his or her attitude towards a teacher. Bad behavior cannot be eliminated with cruelty; it will either get worse or not change at all.
All in all, this topic is quite vague and involves lots of disputes both from parents and pedagogues; however, there is always one paramount point here: violence is always the cause of bad behavior. Competent and pleasant teachers know how to make the atmosphere conducive to studying and personal development whereas corporal punishment adherents usually turn out to be people with low self-esteem and self-confidence who find it easier to punish and shout at a wrongdoer instead of having a talk and finding out what made a kid act wrongly. Considering all the drawbacks of physical punishment, it is clear that we have to look for more tolerant and humane ways of dealing with children misbehavior because behind each hooligan and naughty child there is a story or a solid reason for such a behavior.
