No end to this debate...

No end to this debate…

I keep promising not to bring up the issue of corporal punishment anymore. That issue is just too controversial and is one of those with no end in sight. It should be up there with those issues that a lot of people refuse to discuss, i.e. religion and politics. It is also much like the debate about the differences between men and women. Let us not go there either.

But the issue keeps following me around. I did a workshop for principals last week and one of the participants wanted to know what I thought about corporal punishment.  I was so tempted to pick up that baton and run with it; but rational thinking got the better of me and I decided to stick with my planned title- Leading with Emotional Intelligence. I secretly figured it would be underneath the proceedings of the day anyway, in some form or fashion. And it sure did come up a couple more times. Educators cannot talk about reforming schools without someone mentioning the “C.P.” word.

Then I saw a very interesting article on the internet. It was titled “Physical discipline makes children anxious and aggressive” and it was on the Natural Child Project site. (a very good site by the way). It starts off by saying “No matter what the cultural norm, children who are physically disciplined with spanking and other such approaches are more likely to be anxious and aggressive than children who are disciplined in other ways”. They were referring to some research done in six different countries to look at the effects of culture on the issue of corporal punishment and reported in Child Development journal.
The conclusion of the study as reported …

1. ”More frequent use of physical discipline was less strongly associated with child aggression and anxiety when it was perceived as being more culturally accepted, but physical discipline was also associated with more aggression and anxiety regardless of the perception of cultural acceptance. 


2. In countries in which physical discipline was more common and culturally accepted, children who were physically disciplined were less aggressive and less anxious than children who were physically disciplined in countries where physical discipline was rarely used. 


3. In all countries, however, higher use of physical discipline was associated with more child aggression and anxiety.”

I wasn’t clear about some of the conclusions though, and I quote…"A particular parenting practice may become a problem only if parents use it in a cultural context that does not support the practice (for example, if they migrate from one country to another)." Now I know that there is sure to be much more to what was concluded and that the whole context must be in place. So until I get a chance to read the entire research report as published in the Child Development journal, I will reserve concluding that what is being said here is that it is okay to use corporal punishment in your own country if your culture is okay with it, but do not go live in another country and beat your children.

Reference. http://www.naturalchild.org/research/discipline.html