Is South Africa Doing it Right?
Corporal punishment in South Africa has been out lawed since 1996 but as many people know it still happens regularly around the country. Just because it has been outlawed does not mean that it is over as we have now learnt.
In countries like England where no form of physical discipline is inflicted on a child by any adult, the children tend to grow up in a wild and out of control state. They are rude, disrespectful and get up to all sorts of trouble but the law states that they may not be physically harmed by anyone. As a result, these children grow up being wild but the difference with South Africa is that when these kids are grown up and become adults, all the wildness is out of their system and they become noble citizens.
They grow up being allowed to do as they please and as a result they straighten out as they get old. The society balances out and these grown up kids are now prim and proper citizens. They go to university, get a degree and a decent job and they live noble lives.
Comparing this to South African students who are constantly being hit by their teachers and the law is not enforced, these kids grow up in fear and they end up dropping out of school. They never get to live as free kids and get the wildness out of their systems. They then decide to live crazy lives when they are older and have freedom which becomes problematic because this is when they are meant to be straightening out and getting their lives in order. This could be a major contributing factor as to why the crime rates in South Africa are so high.
So although many people believe that CP is good for children and it forces them to grow up as disciplined young people it is not true. I do not speak for everyone though. Some people respond well to this and others it just makes them rebellious. The trick is to find a method, as a teacher, that one can apply to each child and discipline them according to their special needs. I think teachers also need to recognise that there is a fine line between discipline and abuse and once they are able to walk on the better side of the line they will recognise that there is no need to be abusive to children. They need to adopt the ways of other countries as it is clearly working for them.