Corporal Punishment and Its Effects (Essay Sample)

Corporal Punishment and Its Effects Student's Name Institutional Affiliation Course Name and Number Instructor's Name Date Corporal Punishment and Its Effects Corporal punishment is a punishment that causes physical pain or discomfort to an individual. It may include spanking, flogging or caning in children and inflicted on slaves or prisoners in adults. Corporal punishments were massive in the olden days. However, humanitarian ideals that have grown over the years view it inhumane and eliminated from most developed countries' legal systems CITATION Ban17 \l 1033 (Baniamin, 2021). When a parent or a legal guardian uses corporal punishment in response to undesired behavior, it reflects parental corporal punishment. A lot of parents use physical punishment because they think it works CITATION Hol17 \l 1033 (Holden, 2017). They will observe the child's reaction. The child will be upset and stop the behaviour in the short term, therefore concluding it is a practical discipline method. However, physical punishment also has long term adverse effects, including reduced motivation, low school grades, aggression, antisocial behaviour, mental health problems, and poor parent-child relationships. Studies show the importance of lowering corporal punishment as a discipline strategy CITATION Wal18 \l 1033 (Walker et al., 2018). Corporal punishment is associated with child aggression because it models aggression. Aggression is any behaviour intended to cause pain, harm or discomfort to another person. Children brought up through physical punishment or violence are more likely to model the behaviour and become aggressive later in life CITATION Mar21 \l 1033 (Martin et al., 2021). Continually being around violence considerably changes how children think about and respond to circumstances or events they experience later on in life. Physical punishment is also associated with poor performance and low grades. If the school environment is hostile and anxiety-producing, the corporal penalty will negatively impact academic performance CITATION Hol17 \l 1033 (Holden, 2017). Students, for example, who face physical punishment develop anxiety, causing loss of concentration and poor understanding. It will also lead to fear of the person administering the punishment, like a teacher or parent. The student loses interest in the subject, develops a negative attitude towards the teacher and their classes, leading to poor or low grades. Nevertheless, carrying a cane to class and teaching with it causes children to be fearful and not pay attention in learning and may lead to a lack of participation in class about the subject or the topic studied. Students subjected to corporal punishment are less motivated towards learning. Punished students feel discouraged and hesitate to participate in class actively, hence decreasing their motivation for learning. Corporal or physical punishment has positive and negative effects. It can reduce, terminate or change the occurrence of undesirable behaviours. However, the adverse effects outweigh the positive ones, causing severe long-term effects l...