Why Some Teachers still use corporal Punishment In This 21st Century.
1. Some teachers think that the child will not be disciplined when you did not hit them either with the hand or the cane. But that is not true. We must train by using ourselves as a good example and other people in the school and communities for them to learn.
2. Some teachers think corporal Punishment is part of their culture therefore, they cannot stop. This is to say that, Corporal Punishment existed for a very long time and this is not the time to say it is not good for the child. Some teachers think that it is only white people that do not practice Corporal Punishment. This is false. We can model our children the way we want when we establish a good relationship with them.
3. Some adults and teachers think that Corporal Punishment is the only way to teach the child to do the right thing. But we can teach them to do the right thing when we always introduce the good aspects of what we want them to do without using Corporal Punishment.
4. The tit-for-tat syndrome. Some teachers do not want to say no to Corporal punishment because their teachers used Corporal Punishment on them when they are going to school; therefore they will also use Corporal Punishment on their students to serve as tit for tat. We are doing great harm to ourselves as teachers and members of society when we adopt this tit-for-tat mentality.
5. The use of the Bible. Some teachers and parents use the Bible to abuse their children and students. They normally adopt the Bible which states that “spare the rod and spoil the child”. Therefore, they use that Bible verse to practice Corporal punishment in their school. However, the Bible teaches us to teach our children the correct way and when they grow they will not run away from it. Therefore we must train them and guide them to be disciplined and reformed.
Why Corporal Punishment Should Not be used in our various schools.
Some teachers do not agree with the Ghana Education Service (GES) about why Corporal Punishment must not be encouraged in our various schools.
We shall look at various reasons why corporal punishment is not good to practice.
1. It leads to the physical abuse of the child. The child can suffer severe pain and injuries as a result of corporal punishment. Some body parts of the victim may be affected.
2. It affects the mental functioning of the child. Corporal punishment can go a long way to damage the brain of the child, most especially in cases where knocking on the child’s head is practiced. When this happens, it can affect the learning of the child and his or her performance in the classroom will begin to decrease from his or her previous performance.
3. It affects the social needs of the child. A child who constantly suffers abuse as a result of social punishment do not feel comfortable playing with their peers. They are always isolated from their friends because they are emotionally depressed. We must not forget that socialization is a key aspect of the development of a child
4. It always makes the child aggressive and timid. Corporal punishment does not pave way for children to bring out their initiatives for they fear that they will be punished. They keep everything to themselves which will affect them in the future.