Corporal Punishment

[ashleigh2910]

Should corporal punishment be brought back to school today? What is lacking for the children of today to be so ill-disciplined??

[seagoon4ever]

biblical...spare the rod spoil the child. civilisation is built on discipline

[dondons]

Corporal punishment in school used to be very formal Punishment book had to be filled in, witnesses appointed ,parents informed ,so the punishment was never really given straight after the incident. Most people's idea of corporal punishment was the individual teacher's punishment that usually happened on the spur of the moment and was open to all sorts of abuse. What really needs to happen is for the sanctions that are available to be applied consistantly. Too many pupils get away with all sorts of actions because staff sre afraid of repercussions.(Staff have been accused of all sorts of henious crimes( -backed up by parents ,) by discruntled pupils who don't think that they should be punished!!)

[Lil O'lady]

I started teaching back in the days when formal and informal corporal punishment were the norm. The main difference between then and now, aside from the law, is that there has been a widespread decay of family structure in the UK, and the children in most need of learning self-discipline are the likeliest to be from families headed by immature undisciplined adults.
I do not think it is right to hit children or to issue ritualised formal physical punishment, but by the same token I do not think teachers should be required to tolerate feral behaviour.
Corporal punishment will never reappear in UK schools, but school heads should be much more proactive about expelling badly behaved pupils, and parens should be fined for allowing appalling behaviour to continue unchecked.