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From: fsks@unc.UUCP (Frank Silbermann)
Newsgroups: net.kids,net.politics
Subject: Re: corporal punishment in schools
Message-ID: <6@unc.unc.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 28-Aug-85 17:31:14 EDT
Article-I.D.: unc.6
Posted: Wed Aug 28 17:31:14 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 31-Aug-85 03:44:06 EDT
References: <2149T3B@psuvm>
Reply-To: fsks@unc.UUCP (Frank Silbermann)
Organization: CS Dept, U. of N. Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lines: 39
Xref: watmath net.kids:1802 net.politics:10715
Summary: 

>-- Tom Benson
>Corporal punishment, administered by a paddle, is occasionally used
>in our local district.
>I would be interested to see postings that describe the situation in
>other areas, and to read the net's views on corporal punishment as a
>form of school discipline.

	I have mixed feelings about corporal punishment.  Where it is
permitted, the danger always exist that a teacher with a brutal streak
will terrorize the children.  On the other hand, I wonder what sort of
punishment SHOULD be used.

	In New York City, corporal punishment is forbidden.  Also, no
child may be expelled for any reason, under the reasoning that ALL
children have a RIGHT to education.  The only motivation teachers may
provide is to giving and withholding approval, via grades and praise.
This sort of incentive doesn't work for the child who DOESN'T CARE what
the teacher thinks of him (in many cases, the child's parents don't care,
either).  The out-and-out rebel can call the teacher's bluff, leaving the
teacher no means to keep control of his class.  The other children notice
that such a rebel is more powerful than the teacher.  This destroys the
teacher's prestige and authority, destroying his ability to teach anybody
else.

	The result of this is that hardly anybody learns much in the inner
city schools.  If this trend does not reverse, the parents who do care will
lose confidence in the public school system.  Private schools will become
the rule, rather than the exception.  Since most private schools are run
for the benefit of special-interest groups (the affluent minority, religious
denominations), in the long run this may increase the polarization of society.

	The only way to stop this trend is to take back control of the schools
from the insubordinate students and return it to the teachers.  But how can
we accomplish this with neither the option to expell the hard-line trouble-
makers, nor the permission to beat them into submission?

	What do you guys think?  Can anyone come up with more palatable options?

		Frank Silbermann