A study of attitudes towards corporal punishment as an educational procedure from the earliest times to the present.
| dc.contributor.author | Wilson, Robert McCole | en_US |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-08-15T20:17:23Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-08-15T20:17:23Z | |
| dc.date.copyright | 1971 | en_US |
| dc.date.issued | 1971 | |
| dc.degree.department | Faculty of Education | |
| dc.degree.department | Department of Curriculum and Instruction | |
| dc.degree.level | Master of Arts M.A. | en |
| dc.description.abstract | This thesis is an attempt to help clarify the issue of corporal punishment in schools by looking at the historical development of the attitudes which are currently held. The views on corporal punishment of influential educational thinkers from the earliest times to the present have been presented and analysed. Also the degree to which these views were a reflection of, or contrast to, the attitudes of the time has been noted. It was shown that the arguments against corporal punishment could be broadly classified into motivational arguments (it doesn't work) and ethical arguments (it is morally wrong). The educational legacy of corporal punishment from earlier European societies provided a time-worn acceptance closely bound up with religious and social attitudes. A few exceptional individuals, particularly Quintilian, spoke out in opposition, as did certain Humanists during the Renaissance period, but with little general effect. Early Protestant leaders found support for its use in Old Testament edicts, but organised Catholic Orders in France began to use more subtle methods of motivation which greatly reduced the fear of physical pain as an incentive. Despite occasional protests, England was to accept rigorous teaching methods until well into the Nineteenth Century. While there was much violence and brutality in that century, more and more of the leading thinkers opposed man's inhumanity to man, and to child. Although Rousseau was the most influential, almost all of the leading educational philosophers of this century opposed corporal punishment except as a last resort. The belief that a child should be motivated to higher achievement and better behaviour through love and interest grow, along with the stress on more acceptable teaching methods, and an attractive school environment. European schools became a contrast to those in English-speaking countries where change was much slower. But here, too, change was to come through the moral persuasion of educational leaders; the restrictions placed on corporal punishment by official bodies, the general improvement in teacher training and the vast improvement in school buildings and equipment. Among the most influential in changing public opinion were writers of fiction who portrayed the effects of brutality on children. The Twentieth Century has brought closer to fulfillment the promise of the Nineteenth. Better quality teachers have introduced into classrooms more positive teaching methods which avoid harsh methods of discipline and motivation. While experimental psychology has not yet clearly shown the effects of punishment, clinical psychology has contributed much in the examination of deeper motives of both punisher and victim, and has attempted to cure behavioral problems through individual counselling and therapy. Despite advances in psychology, however, the opposition to corporal punishment continues to rest most securely on ethical arguments. | en |
| dc.format.extent | 194 pages | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/20162 | |
| dc.rights | Available to the World Wide Web | en_US |
| dc.title | A study of attitudes towards corporal punishment as an educational procedure from the earliest times to the present. | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
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