Corporal Punishment

In times past, corporal punishment was common in western culture.  Today it is anathema.  When Jesus was whipped on his way to the Cross, corporal punishment was anything but a new invention.  What are the pluses and minuses of corporal punishment? 

To inflict corporal punishment on a human being does seem cruel and barbaric.  Worse when the victim is a child.  Only in recent times has corporal punishment become looked on as politically incorrect in our culture.  It has been very few generations since a child who misbehaved in school might expect blows, and more blows at home when his parents heard about it. 

When most Americans lived in small agricultural communities, where most everybody knew each other, a child who got into mischief could expect that his parents would hear about it within 24 hours, and might expect a taste of Papa’s belt.  The first modern change in this occurred with the invention of the telephone; now the parents would know even before he got home. 

Today, modern intellectuals have told us that corporal punishment is damaging to a child’s character.  Not everybody has accepted this idea, even though it is now politically correct. 

Just a few years ago a boy I know showed up with welts on his legs.  The teacher informed CPS, and his father found himself in court, charged with child abuse. 

“How did your son get those marks?”

“I spanked him with my belt.” 

“What could he possibly have done to deserve that?”

“I told him to quit hanging out with a bad bunch of kids, but he did not obey.” 

“Why do you say those kids are bad?”

“They like to break into houses.”

“Oh, I see.  Case dismissed.” 

Even today, not everyone agrees that corporal punishment is necessarily bad. 

When my daughter was a toddler, I once swatted her.  I felt bad afterwards, but it still seems reasonable that a somewhat drastic lesson was indicated to be sure she was convinced that she should not ever repeat an offense that could get the death penalty.  She ran out into the street without looking. 

One advantage of corporal punishment is that a child who gets into trouble can get his punishment immediately, get it over, and go on with his life.  No dragged-out “therapy” sessions.  Life just goes on. 

Back in the 1920’s and 1930’s, Americans generally believed that corporal punishment, for children who misbehaved, was a good thing.  In Japan, corporal punishment at home was not considered a good thing, and it was outlawed in schools.  Corporal punishment would teach children to be cruel. 

In WWII, people in countries overrun by American soldiers were often glad, because Americans had gotten a reputation for treating conquered peoples with mercy.  Japanese soldiers…google “Rape of Nanking”.  When the Americans took German prisoners, the Germans were often amazed by how well they were treated.  About 95 percent of American soldiers captured by the Germans survived the war.  About 50 percent of American soldiers captured by the Japanese survived the war.  Who were most cruel ? 

The Americans brought up in the 1920’s and 1930’s experienced corporal punishment, which, of course, ruined their character.  So why do we call them “The Greatest Generation”?