South African democracy was born in 1994 after years of oppression and dehumanisation. Through the implementation of Child Safeguarding Policies from 2012, deep unhappiness in schools was uncovered and the use of corporal punishment which was abolished in 1996 became apparent. Teachers were adamant that corporal punishment was the only means of…

I examine parent, student, and teacher reactions in a rural Moroccan village to a national ban on corporal punishment in schools. I argue that although the ban has largely been ignored in the local primary school, talk about acts of corporal punishment are used to make claims about the relationship between rural citizen and state as represented by…

In 1973, British Columbia (B.C.) became the first province in Canada to forbid corporal punishment in public schools (B.C. School Act), followed by the majority of the other provinces. Alberta and Manitoba however, still have no provincially enacted legal prohibition, although many school boards have updated their policies to state that corporal…

This paper ponders the lasting effects of corporal punishment on students. The paper first considers the benefits and faults of corporal punishment by comparing the experiences of two generations of students and teachers. Starting with the definition of corporal punishment as applied locally and globally, the paper analyzes the reasons for its…

In 1980 I published an article in "The Clearing House" that examined a host of questions that teachers were asking about the practice of corporal punishment in the classroom. This was a method frequently used at that time to deal with discipline problems teachers encountered. In this present article I revisit those questions to see what…

The case "Ayub Khan v. Municipal Corporation of Delhi Schools" is one of the landmark cases for promoting a conversation on ethics of corporal punishment in Indian society. Based on literature synthesis and the critical examination of the Court case using ethical frameworks (Stefkovich, 2006; Stefkovich & Shapiro, 2010) this paper…

This article examines corporal punishment in U.S. public schools, proposes a national conversation regarding its use, and advocates for a national policy to promote nonviolent discipline methods and prohibit corporal punishment of children in educational settings. The United States remains one of the few postmodern societies without a national…

Globally, half of students aged 13-15 experience peer-to-peer violence in and around school. This number includes students who report having been bullied in the last month or having had a physical fight within the past year. But bullying and physical fights are only two types of violence. Students routinely deal with corporal and other degrading…

For a long time since the banning of corporal punishment, character education is back on the agenda in Kenyan education policy. However, there is much uncertainty on how it should be implemented in schools and there is no one definition of what it means. This is not surprising since there has clearly been a long history of ill-conceived,…

A commitment to maximizing learning outcomes for all students is an axiom of most educational systems around the world. However this goal is sometimes compromised by factors that can be complex and difficult to address. Student behavior problems are one of the major issues challenging educators in many countries including Thailand. Recently, laws…

An explanatory model for children's development of disruptive behavior across the transition from preschool to school was tested. It was hypothesized that child effortful control would mediate the effects of parenting on children's externalizing behavior and that child sex would moderate these relations. Participants were 241 children (123 boys)…

In the last few years the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children has been gathering momentum, with a submission to "The United Nations Secretary General's study on violence against children" the most recent addition to the cause. Nevertheless, corporal punishment in schools is still condoned in many countries and…

Is it appropriate to implement punishment strategies in the home and school settings when children display disrespectful and inappropriate behaviors? This article depicts the advantages and disadvantages of teachers and parents utilizing an array of punishment strategies including: (a) reprimands, (b) response cost, (c) timeout, and (d) corporal…

In this literature review concerning early childhood discipline we particularly highlight American children's discipline with respect to historical perspectives, generational theories, gender issues, parental styles, methods of discipline, and corporal punishment. We also address corporal punishment's history, the debate among experts, beliefs and…

The purpose of this analysis is to examine the relationship between the utilization of corporal punishment and its relationship to subsequent deviant behavior among youth. Fundamental aspects regarding corporal punishment (e.g. definition of corporal punishment, supportive and opposing arguments, etc.) are discussed. Socio-demographic factors…