John Anderson
Rita Kumar
Eng. Comp.
T,TH 9:30-10:50
Disciplining your Child And How You’re Allowed To Do It
Can you teach children to behave by hitting them? Should it be legal to do so? In society today there is a debate on how to discipline children and what rights parents should have in doing so. I have read two journal articles on this subject. The first, written by Nadane Block titled, “Disciplinary Spanking Should Be Banned”, argues against spanking and for the rights and protection of children. The second is by Okey Chigbo, “Disciplinary Spanking Is Not Child Abuse”, argues that spanking is an important tool for a parent. These articles go head to head, and both provide information on how to view the subject. Should the government step in to stop parents from spanking their children? Let’s find out.
The first article, “Disciplinary Spanking Should Be Banned”, argues against spanking children. Block starts out saying that corporal punishment, the infliction of physical pain for a perceived misbehavior, can lead to child abuse, and to less intelligent children. She then goes into reasons why people use corporal punishment on children. She states that the main reason people use and defend the use of corporal punishment is because of its roots in religion. The author states that Fundamentalists, Evangelical, and Protestant Christians use the Old Testament of the Bible to justify spanking. Block says that if these people justified their parenting from the New Testament of the Bible, they would show their children more love and understanding. This article points out that this mindset is especially influential in the United States because we are an inherently Protestant nation. Next, the author examines the idea that even with these attitudes and views so deeply a part of our culture, people’s viewpoints are slowly changing. For example, in modern society corporal punishment is banned in almost all public schools. She states that spanking has been linked to domestic violence. She links her paper to another author whose work has examined research regarding spanking leading to increase in the behavior that was intended to be corrected. In one study Block highlights, children who were spanked rarely, if ever, scored higher on cognitive tests than those who were spanked more frequently. Block states that while ending corporal punishment will be difficult, it is achievable. She would like to see a federal ban be placed on spanking in schools. Finally, Block explains how she believes the United States should follow the example of European countries and have a complete ban on corporal punishment. This ban would be for school personnel as well as for parents at home or in the community with their children. Block’s opinion is that this type of full ban on corporal punishment has lowered child abuse rates, and the author ends the article by saying that the United States should have a Child Rights Association, to help protect children.
The second article by Okey Chigbo, “Disciplinary Spanking is Not Child Abuse”, starts with Chigbo telling a personal story. He recalls that he was picking his child up from daycare when he saw a parent whose child would not leave the daycare. The child yelled and hit his mother until she finally somehow got him out of the center. The author says that perhaps a simple spank on the buttocks could have made him more compliant. However, he then discusses how in today’s world, hardly anyone would do that due to fear of appearing abusive, or that an occasional swat on the bottom will eventually turn the child into a violent criminal. Chigbo rejects spanking as the primary method of parenting, but knows the value of an occational and judicious swat on the butt. Chigbo goes on to discuss that the anti-spankers try to make spanking as broad a definition as possible which makes it easier to demonize. Next, the author examines the movement to criminalize spanking. He refers to the movement to make spanking illegal in Canada and how that would criminalize the behavior of otherwise law abiding people. The author reports that lawyers for anti-spanking movements say most spanking cases would be rejected from prosecution; however this may not be the case if the law is passed. The article then discusses how anti-spankers blame violence in our society on spanking and the author focuses on the fact that there isn’t much real information to back up the theory that spanking children creates violent adults. He provides evidence that non-spanking causes crime rates to increase. In the next section, Chigbo questions whether spanking is actually harmful. He states that spanking, when used in moderation to back up other forms of parenting, is effective and does not harm children. Chigbo points out that our society grants permission for authority figures to use force to keep people in their charge in check. The author provides examples on how poor anti-spanking arguments are. Next, he talks about how society condemns parents who spank. Society says that if you view yourself as a moral being, you shouldn’t hit a child, but the author finds the opposite to be true. If you spank your child, and use it as a tool, and it helps them change bad behavior then the spanking is a good thing. Finally Chigbo wraps up his article discussing how non-spanking is a minority view, and a blanket ban would not be good because many parents still view this as a safe personal choice on how to raise their children.
In “Disciplinary Spanking Should Be Banned”, Block writes very scornfully, and like everyone in society who hits their children are monsters. She does this to make spanking seem negative to the reader and to almost criminalize anyone who does this. You can see this when she says, “Each year at least one million children are beaten in the name of “discipline”…” she uses the word beaten to talk about spanking and push it to the limit of how bad it actually is. The audience of this piece is towards parents, educated people, and lawmakers. We know this because she talks about what parents should do and what the government should also do. She takes an outsiders point of view, and never provides information on her personal position in the matter.
In “Disciplinary Spanking Is Not Child Abuse”, Chigbo writes very matter-of-factly, and almost as though he is disappointed on the opposing sides views. Like when he says, “But what is spanking? Anti-spankers define it as broadly as possible, not just to show that spanking causes harm, but to more easily place it in a continuum with child abuse.” The audience of this piece is towards parents, educated people, and law makers. We know this from how he gives advice to parents and tries to persuade lawmakers not to make spanking illegal. The author provides information and presents it in a way that makes anti-spankers seem as though they don’t know anything. Chigbo is a parent and is educated.
Although in the long run, Block and Chigbo want what is best for children, they have extremely different views on how to achieve this. Block sees spanking as detrimental and abusive, while Chigbo views it as a way to get a point across while paired with other types of parenting. I agree with Chigbo on this issue. I do not think that spanking should be a parent’s main choice of discipline, but I do believe that it is a good tool for parents to use on occasion. At one point, Chigbo says that the argument that spanking is morally wrong is invalid because it is not wrong for a surgeon to cut someone, and therein cause them temporary pain, in order to improve their lives in the long run. Block reports that there had been studies showing that spanking makes people violent, but never actually provided the details of these studies. Chigbo, however, showed that on average more parents spanked in the 1950’s and 1960’s than compared to today, but the crime rate is much higher today.
After reading and analyzing both articles, I agree with Chigbo’s article. I believe that spanking used occasionally is an important and effective disciplinary method. Most importantly, I think that how you parent your own children should be your right and decision. In another article I have found, “Spanking Should Not Be Illegal”, Debra Saunders argues that parents should have the right to decide how to discipline their children. Saunders goes more in depth about the difference between beating a child and spanking them. She says that there are already laws against beating children and making laws past that point is just having the government tell individuals how to parent their children. In the United States, in particular, it is viewed as extremely unacceptable for the government to infringe upon individual rights, or dictate family matters.
Another article on the subject comes from a book entitled, Beating the Devil Out of Them: Corporal Punishment in America. This book discusses the positive and negative points of corporal punishment’s effect on children. One point made in the book, is that people develop their reactions toward things as children. If a child is spanked occasionally, and is exposed to mild, but controlled violence, they will learn how to deal with aggression. It is safe to say that at some point in ever person’s life they will be exposed to some degree of danger. Spanking can expose children to violence in a safe controlled environment so that they have a prepared reaction to aggression that they experience in the community later on in their lives.
In conclusion, parents should have the right to choose how to discipline their child. The government should not have control over how parents discipline their children. I think that spanking can be a good thing, but despite what anyone’s personal opinion on the subject is you should have the right to raise your child how you want. Spanking is not abuse. Parents should be able to choose what is best for their child. It is not up to the government to decide how children are raised.
Citations
Block, Nadine. “Disciplinary Spanking Should Be Banned.” Child Abuse, edited by Louise I. Gerdes, Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010115254/OVIC?u=ucinc_main&xid=6bdaec6. Accessed 25 Feb. 2017. Originally published as “Abandon the Rod and Save the Child,” Humanist, vol. 60, Mar. 2000, pp. 5-12.
Chigbo, Okey. “Disciplinary Spanking Is Not Child Abuse.” Child Abuse, edited by Louise I. Gerdes, Greenhaven Press, 2004. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010115255/OVIC?u=ucinc_main&xid=2b59ba71. Accessed 25 Feb. 2017. Originally published as “Antispanking Activists Should Take a Time-Out,” Next City, Summer 1998.
Saunders, Debra. “Spanking Should Not Be Illegal.” Child Abuse, edited by Heidi Williams, Greenhaven Press, 2009. Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010115262/OVIC?u=ucinc_main&xid=5547c092. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017. Originally published as “California Spanking Law Proposal Is Absurd,” The National Ledger, 20 Jan. 2007.
Straus, Murry A., and Dennis A. Donnelly. Beating The Devil Out Of Them: Corporal Punishment In America. New York: Lexington , Lexington /Jossey-Bass, Inc, 1994. Print.
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