Corporal Punishment

"The fundamental need of American education is to find ways of engaging today's children in the thrill of learning. Fear of pain has no place in that process." - The Christian Science Monitor. Because Ms. Peсa and I are in compliance with this statement, we have decided to bring to the attention of the community, the corporal punishment of Sinton High School. There are many effective ways of properly punishing a disobedient student, but there are also limits to certain disciplinary measures. Grant it that a student from Sinton High School may now choose their own punishment, with consent from the parents, it is up to the administrator to keep in compliance, and with in the limits. Bruises, cuts, and/or broken skin should not occur in the process of administering corporal punishment. The eight constitutional amendment clearly states that "no cruel or unusual punishment should be inflicted." If markings are found on a student, the boundaries and law have been broken. Rupturing these boundaries surfaces the question, "Just exactly WHY are we administering the corporal punishment to students, to hurt them?" "...the use of corporal punishment in schools is intrinsically related to child maltreatment. It contributes to a climate of violence, it implies that society approves of the physical violation of children, it establishes an unhealthy norm...Its outright abolition throughout the nation must occur immediately." - U.S. Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect.

It has been made known to the students of Sinton High School, and now to the parents and community, that the administrators of the corporal punishment, Mr. Mike Burger, and Ms. Linda Harrison, have left numerous marks on students through corporal punishment. Many of the marks have lasted at least a week and many up to two. Physical child abuse is defined and characterized by inflicting physical injury by several means, and result in bruises and many other markings. Although the injury is not an accident the person may have not intended to hurt the child. The injury may have resulted from over-discipline or physical punishment.

Dennis Randall of www.familyeducation.com once stated, in relation to the corporal punishment he received, "When I think back, I can't remember why I was punished, and the only thing it taught me, was to loathe that teacher." How can we teach children that violence is such a horrible thing when if, for say, they do something violent, they will get punished with violence. Then teaching them that violence is "Okay" as long as its punishment for doing wrong. Mr. Sid Leonard perhaps crystallized this very point by saying "The same ones kept coming back for more. It wasn't working. Hitting children did not seem to improve their behavior. It seemed in fact to be reinforcing the very behaviors I was attempting to eliminate."

Furthermore, there are many valid arguments against corporal punishment such as:

It perpetuates a cycle of child abuse. It teaches children to hit someone smaller and weaker when angry.

Schools are the only institutions in America in which striking another person is legally

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