Should Parents Be Allowed To Use Corporal Punishment To Correct Their Children

Corporal punishment for children (including smacking, spanking and hitting) in the home and school is banned in nine European countries. Bans are currently being debated by the government of New Zealand. Some people argue that if we ban corporal punishment, we will promote a less violent culture. Others believe that corporal punishment for children is a useful form of discipline, it does not harm the child if it is done carefully and with love. This essay will discuss the healthy effects of corporal punishment, show the problems caused by prohibition, and consider whether a change in section 59 of the Crime Act is the best solution to the problems.

Corporal means relating or belonging to the body, punishment is "the severity of the punishment must be in keeping with the kind of obligation which has been violated." Thus, corporal punishment is using force (such as smacking, spanking, hitting and so on) directed at a body (Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary). It is kind of child abuse.

Secondly, some people believe if legislation bans physical punishment for children, parents will stop smacking and use more time on talking to their children. However, as I have said before, most parents use smacking because they have no other choice to stop their children behaving badly. How can angry parents sit down and talk to their children? Furthermore, if they are not allowed to use corporal punishment, they may use "put down" to abuse their children. Emotional abuse may, I believe be far more serious than physical abuse. Therefore, the ban on corporal punishment may bring the opposite result.

Overall my discussion of the advantages and disadvantages, prohibition may cause more problems. So in my opinion, prohibition is not a good way to solve the problems of corporal punishment. Parents should be allowed to use restricted corporal punishment.

Although most reasons are fair, sometimes parents cannot control themselves when they start corporal punishment. As a result, they can unintentionally cause serious physical and mental damage.

Cannabis is a forbidden drug in China, people are not allowed to plant it, keep it, and purchase it. It is written in the law that cannabis is a narcotic, every one who use it will be treated as offender. In most Chinese minds, if the law says something is wrong, it must wrong, and people do not want to argue about whether the law is right or not. The reason is most Chinese is effected by Confucianism, they believe obey is good, resist is bad. However, things changed recently, influenced by American culture and movie, young people began to try some illegal drugs including cannabis. Fortunately, only a tiny little numbers of people smoke cannabis, because most people still think it is a bad thing when some become addicted on some drugs. Therefore, it is quite easy for the government to control it. And a lot of researching reports and documentaries has been produced to show people how dangerous it is to become an addict. It is very different opinion on cannabis from china to New Zealand.

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Approximate Word count = 2909
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)