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From: berman@psuvax1.UUCP (Piotr Berman)
Newsgroups: net.kids,net.legal,net.politics
Subject: Re: corporal punishment in schools
Message-ID: <1792@psuvax1.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 14-Sep-85 17:07:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: psuvax1.1792
Posted: Sat Sep 14 17:07:23 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 17-Sep-85 04:26:19 EDT
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Organization: Pennsylvania State Univ.
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Xref: watmath net.kids:2004 net.legal:2346 net.politics:11008

> >I prefer solutions that are directly
> >related to problems as possible.  
> > . . . .
> >I'm not sure what to do about
> >things like hitting neighborhood kids.  Our 2.75 year old has a little
> >problem with this.  We keep talking to her about it.  ("People are not for
> >hitting.")  
> >
> >  -- David Jacobson
> 
> There is one solution, directly related to the problem.  If it hasn't
> happened yet, it will.  One of the kids she hits is going to hit her
> back.  She'll then learn *why* people are not for hitting :-).
> 		
> 		charli

Corporal punishment (like spanking) has the following setback:
it seems to be effective.  In fact, is not more effective than
a regular admonition, or yelling or other more subtle negative
reinforcement.
What is more important is to react promptly to situations which
require correction.  Another important principle is not to expect
that you may correct some behavior "once for all".  The biggest
setback in using excessive penalties is lowering the level of
sensitivity of a child.  I got my share of spanking and I speak
with some experience.  Pain and humilation is relative.  A minor
bicycle accident is more painful than spanking.  However do you
want to enter a path of escalating punishments toward children?
Or you would prefer to get their attention even when you merely
express your displeasure (an ideal situation).
The original question concerned teachers.  As I remember, my
highschool class behaved best with an older teacher who would
merely raised her eyebrows at the first little noise made by
a student  (in a very rare situations, she would ask somebody
to leave the room).  Besides, we new that she was teaching well.  
The art of mantaining authority with minimal the means is not
some magic, but it requires competience.

Piotr Berman