Corporal punishment

I read an article entitled Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools: A Continuing Challenge for School Social Workers. Corporal punishment is a topic that has long been controversial in our country. Our county has been moving away from it in recent years due to the fact that many believe it to be damaging to the child in both physical and psychological ways as well as simply being inhumane. They list bruising, welts, and various other effects of corporal punishment are at least part of the reason that corporal punishment should be completely banned. So far it has been banned in many states and is generally frowned upon. However I think that we may be looking at corporal punishment in the wrong light. Yes corporal punishment can be damaging to the students but the times when it is damaging are the times when the teacher or parent is going overboard because they are angry or not controlling themselves. This is where I believe corporal punishment turns into physical abuse, however when used correctly corporal punishment can be an effective way to punish children. The line between correct use and physical abuse though is dependent upon the mind set of the parent or teacher at the time though. When a parent spanks a child out of love and genuine desire to help the child change his ways instead of anger at the child’s misbehaving there is much less chance of damage in any way to the child. Some forms of corporal punishment should be banned I think though. Some of the forms listed by the article simply sounded horrible and overboard such as electric shock. When I think of corporal punishment that kind of thing doesn’t come to mind which is perhaps why I am an advocate of it to some degree. The only form of corporal punishment I ever received was spanking which proved to be helpful in my developing years. I think that corporal punishment is schools should be banned because there is no way for anyone to be sure of the motives of the teachers involved but I would also suggest that corporal punishment in the home, as long as it does not turn into physical abuse, is a viable means of discipline considering the parents of a child are much more likely to actually desire what is best for the child.