Good evening honourable members of the School governing body. We the student elective have developed a proposal on correcting the pandemic of corporal punishment affecting this school. We will be addressing the following topics: corporal punishment before and after 1994, the student uprising of 1976, corporal punishment and independent schools, arguments for and against corporal punishment and our recommendation. Our aim is to gain your support in our stand against corporal punishment in our school but also in our community. Thank you for allowing us this opportunity and we hope this speech will be enlightening.
What is Corporal punishment?
Corporal punishment can be described as any deliberate act against a child that inflicts pain or physical discomfort to punish or contain him/her . Corporal or physical punishment can take many forms, including hitting with a hand or an object, slapping, kicking, shaking, pinching or pulling hair; forcing someone to stand in an uncomfortable and undignified position; denying or restricting someone’s use of the toilet; denying meals and shelter as a form of punishment; forcing someone to do excessive exercise .
Furthermore humiliating, degrading and emotional Punishment can be described as corporal punishment . Some educators have replaced physical punishment with methods of degrading or humiliating punishment . This often takes different forms such as verbal abuse, ridicule, isolation, or ignoring learners .
Situation in the 1970’s with regards to Corporal Punishment
The effects of corporal punishment in this case, were hotly debated by many at the time, in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Racial battles and many apartheid events occurred in this period of time (Newell, 1972). Psychologists argued that it did serious emotional damage, affected the self-esteem of learners and impacted adversely on academic performance (Cherian, 1990; Holdstock, 1990; Murray, 1985). Respectful relations between teachers and
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