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Though Saelia stated that the issues in the United States' education system lies in the fact that corporal punishment is not effectively used, she provided no link through evidence to suggest that the education system in America is failing because of the lack of "proper" physical punishment. There are concrete and proven reasons the United States seems to fall behind several European and Asian countries that do not involve the use or lack of corporal punishment, one being the lack of quality in the current standardized testing policies because of the effects of the No Child Left Behind Act.

In addition, the United States does not have a complete ban on corporal punishment, and twenty-three states still allow corporal punishment in public schools. So, all this lack of discipline that Saelia claims to occur in the United States still occurs under the status quo with corporal punishment. Wouldn't this be a sign of its lack of effectiveness if one accepts that the United States has a problem in discipline?

It must also be noted that the prompt does not limit the debate to the United States. Therefore, examples from other nations of the world are acceptable in this debate. Hungary, England, and Russia scored higher than the United States in TIMSS tests. Both Russia and England have limited corporal punishment to only the home, while Hungary has a complete ban on physical punishment. Taiwan has a ban on corporal punishment, as stated by Phylis, and it held the top scores for the TIMSS tests. Sweden has also enjoyed a highly positive reputation in its education system while being the first countries to have a complete ban on corporal punishment.

So, from this evidence, does banning corporal punishment even have a negative impact on our education as Saelia suggests?

With no evidence that support her claims, Saelia's argument holds no weight. She simply states that parents and teachers that do not use corporal punishment have no control over children and that parents and teachers that do not use physical punishment have no way of punishing unruly children. I, however, find it hard to believe that even the majority of parents and teachers that do not wish physically to harm their children and students have difficulties in controlling beings that are less than half their size.

Moving onto Mak's post, I would like to say that it is nice to know that a man, that has come from a household that enforced corporal punishment while he himself was spanked only once, has not seemingly suffered any negative effects from physical punishment that some children receive on a daily basis. It is nice to know that Mak did not turn out to be one of the many individuals that were included in Gershoff's analysis. Individuals that, as I've stated in my first post, experienced negative effects in their relationships with their parents, their social behaviors, their aggression, and future abuse of their own spouse and children all because their parents used corporal punishment. It is nice to know that Mak's one spanking did not create the lifelong issues than children that were spanked on a regular basis.

Again, just like Saelia's post, Mak's post hints that parents and teachers are unable to control children without the utilization of physical punishment. I still find it hard to believe that a child would absolutely ignore the commands of an adult until physical harm is applied. Mak and Saelia arguments have the tone that corporal punishment is the only available option and that all other forms of punishment fall short. From common knowledge and practice, it can be shown that non-physical ways of punishing children can be effective, and with the evidence provided by both Phylis and I that has so far gone unchallenged, it is corporal punishment that falls short.

Therefore, with what has been stated above, the obvious choice in this round is that corporal punishment is unjust.