Corporal Punishment in South African Schools

Introduction

There are several forms of violence experienced in South African schools such as bullying, sexual harassment, gangsterism, nattering, vandalism, and smoking, etc, but the motive of this research is to address and try to avert the issue of corporal punishment. One may wonder what this corporal punishment is all about, well according to the American Medical Association it is defined as the ‘’intentional infliction of pain or discomfort and or use of physical force upon a student as punishment for an offense or behavior’’.

Corporal punishment takes numerous forms, it can be the act of choking, shaking, spanking, and or confinement in an uncomfortable space. It has been imposed for violence acts like fighting with another student, and non-violent acts like possessing cigarettes, talking in class, swearing, throwing food, and missing football practice (Orentlicher, 1992).

Children can be tiring sometimes, to compensate these parents and teachers ought to be arduous when dealing with them. Locke(1960), stated that parents have the natural right to raise and protect their children because they are born in an imperfect state without knowledge and understanding .

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it is their duty to preserve, nourish and educate them (by the law of nature). This philosopher said nothing about “punishment’’, remember there is a big difference between punishment and discipline.

According to research, schools are the only public institution in which corporal punishment is still permitted. Corporal punishment was merely employed in the prisons and the military, but it has since been banned in both settings. Children are the only citizens who are frequently exposed to physical castigation.

Ordinarily, any physical harm suffered at the hands of another constitutes a battery, punishable by civil liability and criminal penalties (Orentlicher,1992).

Effects of corporal punishment in South African schools

The use of physical punishment to discipline children is a focus of popular and academic debate. Almost everyone beliefs that the bible is always right with no faults and it thus provides enough morally unobjectionable insights to guide the way in which people live their lives, for example, that obedience and submission to parents is God-given authority and children have the responsibility to honor their parents.
According to my perspective, this is just a way to avert the challenges that parents may encounter in the process of raising their children. Yes, learners often become unruly and most probably uncontrollable in class thus teaching and learning is affected as a result of such behavior. But who deserves such punishment? Pain is pain no matter what the source is.

It is not right for parents to promote corporal punishment in schools. it serves no lasting good because there are more non-violent approaches to disciplining children rather than resorting to violence. “Hitting someone else, especially someone younger, smaller, and utterly defenseless, constitutes a violent act. This is true even in those instances where people claim that they cane ‘in love’” (Holdstock, 1990:342). Corporal punishment causes physical and emotional harm to children and not to forget the psychological consequences that it possesses.

A child is a recipient of an act of corporeal power, under circumstances in which the opportunity for self-defense is restricted and which produces corporeal pain. This state can cause a child to have a very strong emotional feeling of anger, and humiliation. A child can develop hatred and have a desire to avoid corporal punishment by not attending school.

The funniest yet irrelevant fact is that teacher’s success can only be determined by that of the learner. To simplify this, teaching cannot be characterized without the notion of learning, but learning can take place without teaching. This is a vibrant signal that whenever a learner fails, the teacher as a facilitator reaches a dead-end. The main aim of teaching and learning is to culminate to some point of achievement, but what success can be deduced when learners end up dropping out of school?

Individuals ought to understand that an educator is a facilitator, not an authority. Students fall victim to corporal punishments in schools and this has a very huge negative impact on learning. Lack of teaching and learning in schools lead to the poor academic performance of students and thus the school experience a high rate of absenteeism and lateness which lead to an increase in the number of school’s dropouts.

Learners eventually engage in such behaviors because of fear and this influences the way in which they deal with their interpersonal conflicts. Spanking may ease a teacher’s exasperation and stop the misconduct for a split second, but it possibly will also be futile since it does not teach an alternative behavior, and children probably feel piqued, shamed, and helpless after being spanked. Castigation is unlawful as it conveys the wrong message to children and promotes that hitting is an acceptable way to solve problems and that there is nothing wrong with an adult whipping a child.

Communication is the best tool to resolve any issues that may arise during the learning process rather than spanking which only increases the chances of mischief, viciousness, anguish, and impaired learning. Punitive measures against students lead to low self-esteem, poor anger management, and poor self-management skills. It is essential for teachers to know the rules, regulations, and legal principles relevant to school discipline such as section 12 (1) of the constitution that state that “everyone has the right to freedom and security, including the right to be free from all forms of violence, not to be tortured, treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading way “, this will assist them to create a safe and inviting learning space.

Following the introduction of Alternatives To Corporal Punishment (ATCP) in 2000 which is defined as “a disciplinary strategy that emphasizes effective communication, respect, and positive educational exchange between teachers and students, the recommended disciplinary measures are verbal warning, detention, demerits, community work small menial physical tasks (Chisholm, 2007)”.
Conclusion To wrap up corporal punishment need to stop because it does not really help in forming a person’s lifelong character, all it ever did was to inflict pain. Cooperation is recommended between parents, learners, and educators in order to create a conducive learning environment for all as research has shown that this form of violence has a negative impact on teaching and learning.

References

1. Chisholm L 2007. Monitoring children’s rights to education. In a Dawes, R Bray & A van der Merwe (eds) Monitoring child well-being: A South African rights-based approach. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
2. Holdstock TL 1990. Violence in schools: discipline. In: B Mckendrick & W Hoffman (eds). People and violence in South Africa. Cape Town: Oxford University Press. Independent on Saturday, 29 May 1999.
3. Locke, J. 1960, Two Treatises on Government: A Translation into Morden English. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, p, 70.
4. Morell, R. (2001). Corporal punishment in South African schools: A Neglected explanation for its existence. South African Journal of education, 21(4), 292-299.
5. Orentlicher, D. (1992). Corporal punishment in schools. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 267(26), 3161
6. Richter, LM., & Dawes, A.R. (2008). Child abuse in South Africa: rights and wrongs. Child abuse review: Journal of the British Association for the Study and Preservation of Child Abuse and Neglect, 17 (2), 72-93.