Corporal Punishment in Schools A classroom is a place where children go to learn. It should be an environment in which they can be comfortable to be themselves and to learn without being beaten over little mistakes. The Netherlands, China, France, Spain, Austria, Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, and many more parts of the world are leading the way in making classrooms safe and comfortable environments, by completely abolishing corporal punishment (Keeshan, 1988). The United States, while it is showing progress, is still way behind, with just about half of the states still allowing their children to be physically punished in the schools. According to Coles, (2000) 12.4 percent of 502 000 public school children got paddled at least once during the 1996-1997 school year. This number, which equals out to 62 248, is atrociously high and shows that too many children are victimized by laws that are not disappearing as fast as they should.
Bible
Bible
File:New zealand-locator.png, with text added for ...Evans & Richardson (1995) define corporal punishment as "chastisement inflicted on the body to modify behaviour"� (p. 34). It is not something that I believe to be necessary and although there are some valid arguments for the paddle in the classroom, the arguments against it outweigh them by far.
Corporal punishment is something that has been around for a long time. Many people think that it is right and that it is condoned and even encouraged by God. In the Bible, there are sections which are written about physical punishment. One section of the Bible contains the statement, "foolishness is found in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from them"�(Holy Bible, Proverbs 22:15, 1984 ) and another states, "A rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."� (Holy...