Corporal punishment 체벌
What is corporal punishment?
Corporal punishment is a training that means to give painful feeling to children to do right behavior
physically, verbally, and behaviorally after parents are thinking over again whether their behavior or talking
is not right or right.
In order to make them do the right behavior, to say right, parents may give corporal punishment to
their children righteously.
There are many kinds of corporal punishment, such as spanking corporal punishment, for children
and adolescents given by parents at home, and school punishment given to students by teachers or school
authorities in school, and corporal punishment can be given legally for a person who has committed an
offense.
The fifty US states legally allow corporal punishment by parents to children in the home for the
purpose of training children.
However, in Canada, Japan, South Africa, and most European countries, spanking corporal punishment given by parents to their children for the purpose of training their children at home is illegal.
Spanking corporal punishment is a kind of corporal punishment in which a parent strikes his or her
infant or the child’s hips or the limbs once or twice with a wide-open palm so as not to injure the infant’s
hips or the limbs in order to guide their misbehaving children four to five years old.
Many parents admit that corporal punishment is to train four- to five-year-old children by sensible
spanking and is okay for childrearing.
However, in order to correct wrong behavior, physical punishment by hitting a child of any age
group with a fist or a wooden stick can have various negative consequences, both physically and mentally.
Such corporal punishment is not legally permitted. It is considered physical child abuse and may be considered offenses.
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Lee D ART FC 1 – 051721.qxp_Layout 1 5/26/21 7:20 AM Page 137Is corporal punishment training necessary to correct wrongful child behavior?
The answer to this question is not consistent.
Regarding the necessity of corporal punishment in order to train children, there are the pros and
cons of both East and West continue and also depending on individuals, regions, countries, cultures,
habits, and religious views. Giving corporal punishment for childrearing is viewed from a negative perspective as well as a positive perspective.
The child-raising method to training children who misbehave through corporal punishment has
been widely used regardless of age and time.
There are many parents and educators, past or present, who believe that corporal punishment is
the fastest and most effective method to control misbehaving children.
Some of the elementary, middle, and high school teachers have also given love and punishment in
order to guide students to the right path for students who violate school rules and conduct. Rarely, the
teacher even hits students with a fist or “loving wood stick.”
Let me give my feelings about my childhood corporal punishment given to me by my teachers at
the elementary school and the high school where I had attended. I did not do anything wrong in elementary and high school, and my attitude was neither impure nor bad, but the teacher slapped me on
the cheek and was just beaten in front of my classmates.
The corporal punishment received from a teacher at that time was beating, not corporal punishment
training. I remember the beatings that were inflicted so far; I don’t want to see the teacher again, and I
still have negative feelings.
Whether a parent gave corporal punishment training to a child or a teacher gave corporal punishment training to a student, corporal punishment is corporal punishment.
In most cases, corporal punishment has negative consequences physically, mentally, psychologically,
and in many other ways.
Nevertheless, while raising their children, many parents do not set a certain standard for training
their children for the bad behavior; they are training their children to punish their children.
Physical punishment training for children and view of religion
Unfortunately, today, some pastors and some Christian ministers interpret the Bible’s words of
“Whips and scold give wisdom, but if left arbitrarily, their children will dishonor their mothers”
(Proverbs 29:15).
He insists that it is acceptable to have children to be trained through corporal punishment according
to the Scriptures. “Your staff and Your staff comfort me” (Psalm 23:4).
There is also a Bible saying, “Fathers, do not anger your children, but bring them up only in the
discipline and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
God will see joyfully to nurture the child’s heart and the body without hurting them.
Student corporal punishment and school education
Nowadays, some of the educational experts argue that it is okay to train them with corporal punishment
to correct the wrong behavior of students.
John Sangwon Lee, MD., FAAP
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Lee D ART FC 1 – 051721.qxp_Layout 1 5/26/21 7:20 AM Page 138On August 3, 2000, in an article in the Hankook Ilbo in New York, “73% of Korean parents need
training for corporal punishment to correct the wrong behavior for their children.”
It is said that this article was “from the results of a survey of 30 Korean Americans in New York.”
There are many types of school corporal punishment training, such as school corporal punishment
training, education corporal punishment, desirable corporal punishment, the wood stick corporal “dang
dang-bong,” and corporal punishment culture.
New words about student corporal punishment training also appeared in the media.
In order to correct wrong behaviors or wrong attitudes, there are also schools that have installed
and operated a “Chodalsil,” in which the teacher can give the student a corporal punishment.
Before taking corporal punishment in school and before giving corporal punishment training, it is
essential to know the cause and motive of the wrongdoing in order to correct the wrongdoing.
First of all, it must be to correct the student’s behavior according to the cause and motivation.
Children’s training should not be conducted through corporal punishment in a simple manner like
that “the frozen feet is melted by their own urination on the cold mountain.”
As already explained above, it is true that if elementary, middle, and high school students in various
Western countries behave in violation of school rules or rules, the wrong behavior is corrected through
corporal punishment training as necessary.
Even school children know well whether the behavior or words of a parent or teacher to them are
consistent, fair, excessive, or appropriate.
Young children also want to be judged fairly for their wrongdoings, especially adolescent children.
When your child does wrong, you should first look at the motives and causes of the wrongdoing
before undergoing corporal punishment training to correct the wrongdoing.
Some of the wrongdoings of adolescent children may be wholly responsible for the adolescent child
himself, and sometimes the child’s parents, teachers, society, or the state.
In other words, no matter how well the children try to behave and take the most appropriate attitude,
children’s wrong behavior is based on their inadequate childrearing methods, their social authorities or
leaders’ poor leadership ability, or inappropriate national policies or social unrealistic justification. This
can be done wrong, and their attitude can be inappropriate.
The motives and causes of the children’s wrongdoing are in their parents, authorities, the country or society, and the children are admitted to have misbehaved, and the children are trained in corporal punishment.
In the past, this kind of corporal punishment training was popular in elementary, middle, and high
schools in my childhood.
In many cases, the motive or cause of the wrongdoing of students was in parents, schoolteachers,
authorities, and leaders of the state or society.
Parents, teachers, older generations, and leaders of a national society should be exemplary for growing children. There are many duties and responsibilities to train the children of the country according
to that example.
“When the upper river stream water is clear, the lower stream water also is clear.”
Children who have been trained in corporal punishment from an early age at home or at school
while growing up can behave violently at home, in school, or in society and even after adulthood.
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Lee D ART FC 1 – 051721.qxp_Layout 1 5/26/21 7:20 AM Page 139Who can be held responsible for these results?
If preadolescent children or adolescent children are punished by corporal punishment in front of
their friends, peers, and classmates for their wrong behavior or attitude, the pride of the children being
punished is fatally lost and their privacy is greatly hurt.
In particular, when adolescent middle and high school students are punished by corporal punishment
in front of their classmates at school, you can’t imagine how great the contempt is.
How could I forget all such experiences in my childhood life?
Anytime, anywhere, corporal punishment remains a mental scar for my life.
The corporal punishment received from parents at home is almost the same. The child’s healthy
self-esteem is damaged.
Children who have been abused mentally and physically from a young age, who have not received
enough true unconditional love, or who have been trained in corporal punishment are more likely to
have safety accidents and more behavioral disorders.
Inappropriate behaviors such as truancy, poor grades due to not studying, poor learning attitudes,
drinking alcohol, smoking, drug use, threats, bullying, and promiscuous sexual relations at school can
be seen in adolescent life.
These days, parents are studying how to educate and guide elementary, middle, and high school
students in the United States and other countries around the world. In particular, not only the education
community but also parents are struggling on this issue with great interest. However, it is a common
opinion that school corporal punishment training cannot solve this problem.
Domestic corporal punishment can lead to symptoms of Chilgok Ulsan symptom.
Physical punishment training with children with mental, emotional, and physical problems
Hyperactivity disorder (HD) and/or attention deficit disorder (ADD), behavioral abnormalities, and
mental problems are found in 6–10 percent of US elementary, middle, and high school students.
In some studies, over 15 percent of elementary, middle, and high school students have hyperactivity
disorder and/or attention deficit disorder, which are more commonly seen in the children trained by
the corporal punishment training.
Students with this behavioral abnormality or mental disorder may appear poor in learning attitudes
in their home or school, are abnormally hyperactive, and show signs of symptoms of attention deficit
disorder, so their wrong behavior is disrupting not only for themselves but also for classmates. It is appearing as a big problem in the field, with teachers, and in the educational world.
Behavioral abnormalities and mental problems are treated with drugs at home or in school, and psychological counseling is needed, but there is no discernable cure for these diseases and problems yet.
The cause of these diseases has not yet been clearly identified, but they are said to be congenital.
Since the diagnosis and treatment methods are not clear, it is a big problem in education because
of children with hyperactivity disorder and/or attention deficit behavior. Nowadays, they are taught
the same tasks in the same class as other students who do not have such activity or emotional disorders.
Symptoms of this activity disorder may also appear during school hours.
John Sangwon Lee, MD., FAAP
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Lee D ART FC 1 – 051721.qxp_Layout 1 5/26/21 7:20 AM Page 140The student himself is also unable to control his or her activities normally, so he can continue with
the wrong activities.
Some parents treat students with such activity disabilities as bad or spoiled children, and some parents
and teachers correct inappropriate behaviors committed by those students with corporal punishment.
When behaviors result from some false hyperactivity appear in a child, sometimes there is the help
from a professional to correct the wrong behavior.
What to look for before training with corporal punishment
When asking a child to make the wrong thing right, parents and teachers should ask the child kindly
and politely.
You should never make a verbal request that is emotionally unpleasant.
It is good if the child complied with your request.
However, if the child does not comply with the request, you have to check whether you have made
a request appropriate to the child’s age, abilities, and maturity.
You need to quickly check to see if the child has any abnormalities mentally, emotionally, and
physically, whether he is hungry, and whether he is growing up with enough genuine unconditional
love.
The parent or teacher making the request should also be checked for mental, physical, spiritual,
economic, social, and family problems.
If the parent, teacher, or the requested child does not have any problems listed above, and the child
does not comply with the parents’ or teacher’s request, the child may be sternly ordered to comply.
If the child disobeys or rebels, you can train them with behavior correction or punishment.
However, any form of punishment can have negative consequences.
Therefore, neither at home nor at school should we correct a child’s fault with punishment as much
as possible.
In particular, a child who commits a wrong behavior should not be trained through corporal punishment.
In elementary, middle, and high school, when students behave incorrectly, it is ideal to train them
in the order of request, order, and behavior correction and to correct other behaviors.
Depending on the motive and cause of negative behavior, it is necessary to lead the child to the
right path through training methods other than corporal punishment.
Unfortunately, in many cases, it is difficult to find out the motive or cause of the wrong behavior,
making it difficult to learn how to train the child.
In school, when a student possesses a weapon, destroys property, or creates a dangerous situation
through violence, parents, teachers, security guards, etc., in accordance with the school rules, are forced
to deter his misconduct in the field, if possible. At the same time, it must be resolved according to the
law. At this time, the method of restraining a student’s misconduct with force also belongs to a kind of
physical punishment training.
Teachers should not beat students when correcting misbehaving students. His misconduct must be
resolved with school rules or laws.
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Lee D ART FC 1 – 051721.qxp_Layout 1 5/26/21 7:20 AM Page 141Ideally, parents, teachers, schools, school counselors, doctors, and clinical psychologists will work
as a team to resolve behavioral disorders in school students, cooperating with each other to find the motives and causes of misbehaving and lead them on the right path accordingly.
In this ideal way of educating students, a lot of time outside of school education and many experts
besides parents and teachers are sometimes needed.
It told me not to give corporal punishment when leading misbehaving children in the right way.
If necessary, it can be trained as punishment such as a time-out or behavior restriction.
When you need to train your children to be punished to correct wrong behavior, you can punish
them discreetly with age differences.
If you need to punish a four- to six-year-old child who behaves incorrectly, to correct his or her behavior,
you can punish him with a “time out” for four to six minutes.
Time-out punishment can be given to the child to be alone in a room or in a corner of the room for
a few minutes, appropriate to his age, to make him repent of what he did wrong and behave correctly in
the future.
When a six- to eight-year-old early school-age child needs to be punished to correct a mistaken behavior, it is appropriate to give a time-out penalty that allows him to stay alone in a corner of the room
for six to eight minutes.
Of course, you can train differently depending on the degree of wrongdoing.
Otherwise, punishment can be done by preventing them from going out of the house for two to
three days to play, playing at a friend’s house, preventing friends from visiting the child’s house, not
watching TV, playing video games, etc.
Spanking corporal punishment training is when parents strike two times with their wide-open palms so
as not to injure their hips or limbs in order to properly guide a misbehaving child of four to five years old.
Spanking corporal punishment training is a kind of corporal punishment, but many parents generally
accept corporal punishment, which trains children four to five years old with sensible spanking corporal
punishment training.
However, training a child with a fist or a spear or a wood stick to correct a child’s wrongdoing can
have a number of negative consequences, sometimes leading to physical abuse in children.
For this reason, it is imperative not to punish with corporal punishment for wrongdoings of children
at school or at home.
Negative consequences of corporal punishment training
John Sangwon Lee, MD., FAAP
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Lee D ART FC 1 – 051721.qxp_Layout 1 5/26/21 7:20 AM Page 142Photo 88. Corporal punishment can damage the child’s body and make the child sick and vulgar. After
corporal punishment, it cannot be restored to its original state before the cycle. Children who have lost
their pride in corporal punishment and children who are raised with frequent corporal punishment are
able to engage in more negative behavior at home, school, and society, and children become adults who
tend to train their children for corporal punishment. Children raised under corporal punishment can
be violent at home, at school, and in society.
Copyright © 2012 John Sangwon Lee, MD, FAAP
1. It can damage the body and make the child’s mind and the body hurt and weak.
2. After giving corporal punishment, it cannot be returned to its original state before the cycle.
3. Children who suffered corporal punishment lose their pride
4. Children who are raised with frequent corporal punishment are more likely to engage in negative behavior at home, school, and society and have a greater tendency to train their children
through corporal punishment even after they reach adulthood.
5. Children raised by corporal punishment may be more violent at home, school, and society.
6. It can disturb school class hours, school events, and social events.
7. Incorrect corporal punishment can result in child abuse. (Eg., Chilgok Ulsan Syndrome)
8. If corporal punishment is given frequently, the effect of corporal punishment is insignificant as
is the responsibility and punishment for wrongdoing. You can think of it as just changing what
you receive.
9. The bonding of warm love between parents and children and between teachers and students is
not well-formed.
10. Parents or teachers who give corporal punishment and children who receive corporal punishment can all be emotional. For this reason, parents, teachers who give corporal punishment to
children can be emotional in the process of exchanging corporal punishment.
11. If corporal punishment does not cause pain, it does not have the effect of corporal punishment
training. Corporal punishment hurts, physical damage.
12. Corporal punishment always brings negative consequences, and although it prevents the child
from doing wrong actions anymore, it cannot teach how to behave correctly in the future.
13. The image of the teacher or parent who gave corporal punishment is damaged.
14. It can be a family that uses corporal punishment as a priority training method following generations.
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Lee D ART FC 1 – 051721.qxp_Layout 1 5/26/21 7:20 AM Page 14315. Neither parents nor teachers are recognized correctly and may not have a sound conscience.
Sequel of corporal punishment received in childhood (negative consequences)
It is said that severe corporal punishment from parents as children can lead to aggressive behavior in
childhood, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, alcohol addiction, habitual drug addiction, and personality
abnormalities can occur in adulthood after growing up.
Source: Journal Watch Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine August 2012
Spanking corporal punishment training
In the United States, when children do wrong, some of the parents are raised by training spanking corporal punishment to correct the wrong behavior.
However, most pediatricians, parents, teachers, educational board members, lawmakers, and residents of the United States in principle disagree with the use of spanking corporal punishment training
when training children to correct wrongdoings.
The American Academy of Pediatrics also does not officially recommend corporal punishment,
which trains children with spanking corporal punishment.
The reason is obvious.
This is because children are emotionally rich, innocent, and inexperienced, and after receiving any
kind of physical punishment training, there are many negative consequences.
Studies have shown that most of the parents of middle-class families in the United States do spanking
corporal punishment training to correct their behavior when their children do wrong. Spanking corporal
punishment training is a form of corporal punishment (see spanking above).
Other studies have shown that some American parents believe that the mental and physical health
of their children raised after receiving appropriate spanking corporal punishment training is not impaired
by corporal punishment and that their children behave in a positive way.
Some Americans argue that proper corporal punishment is a necessity for the upbringing of children,
and it is the duty and responsibility of parents to train their children for corporal punishment according
to the Bible, spiritual education, and beliefs. When young children do wrong, they raise their children
through spanking corporal punishment training to correct the wrong behavior.
I think that the mental health of children raised after receiving appropriate spanking corporal punishment training does not deteriorate, they do not grow into violent adults, and spanking corporal punishment training for childrearing is not abusive of children.
Some parents argue that training with appropriate corporal punishment, such as spanking corporal
punishment, does not break the love bonding between parents and children and that the bonding of love
does not weaken or break.
In this way, there are parents who express positive approval for the necessity of appropriate corporal
punishment training in raising their children according to culture, religion, personal values, and in which
country they live, while others disagree in negative terms.
John Sangwon Lee, MD., FAAP
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You must learn to forgive when training wrongdoings as punishment.
If your child is wrong and you try to punish him to correct his behavior, you should forgive him if he repents of his wrongdoing and apologizes for the mistake.
This forgiveness is beautiful, builds a child’s healthy self-esteem, and sometimes results in phenomenal training.
However, when you forgive, do not condone or excuse for wrongdoing.
Forgive appropriately by referring to children’s age and circumstances of wrongdoing.
In conclusion, the author’s opinion is that children should not be trained at home or at school forphysical punishment in parenting.