Many traditional Chinese families use corporal punishment to teach their children. They believe that once the pain is over, the lesson will be engraved on the child's mind and the mistake will not be repeated. It's an easy way of 'teaching' children right from wrong.
Yet a child that goes through corporal punishment really doesn't understand what he did wrong. The only reason he might avoid repeating the mistake is to avoid being smacked. He doesn't know why he shouldn't have done whatever he did. It could lead to children being afraid to try anything new.
I believe we all need to be creative. If corporal punishment were reintroduced to schools, creative minds would be destroyed.
Think about it. Do we want to stop children doing from something wrong, or do we want them to learn why something is a bad idea, and how to think of a creative reason to avoid repeating such mistakes?
Melody Koo, Maryknoll Fathers' School
From the Editor