anaphasiia wrote:Reiteration: why is it okay for a parent to hit their child for stealing the cookie jar, but it's bad for a boyfriend to hit his girlfriend for cheating on him?
That's a really good point!
I admit I mostly disagree with you, but your thoughts are still interesting and relevant. And this question in particular make me doubt my certitudes.
Let's begin with what I think first: I completely agree on the fact that authority shouldn't be “blind”. Whether it's for education or law enforcement, punishing only for disobedience makes me cringe. It sounds a lot like “I might be wrong, but I don't want you to question my power.”. Disgusting.
However, the concept of punishment is still necessary in education. I would love to think that kids (or anyone actually) could think with reason and empathy, and that with careful explanations, it would always be possible to make them understand how to properly behave in society… But, even myself included, when we do something bad without any consequences, we have a tendency to still doing it. At best, we're a little ashamed.
(for those tempted to throw me a rock or something, I would just ask what you do regularly in regards of global warming, food consumption, energy, poverty, diseases in poor country, or even the music industry? We all have bad habits, nobody's perfect)
(okay, except YOU maybe, if you insist on throwing that rock)
And let's look at it with all our pessimism: children have the potential for being wrong at
everything. Morals, safety, judgment, social behavior… They don''t know anything, they can ignore thousand year of civilization and grow up as the most ignorants and uncivilized being. When there's no consequences, nobody actually cares.
Punishment is therefore necessary. But it shouldn't be used only as a “negative stimuli” (electroshocks, like in Brave New World, yaaaay!), but as a way to make the child (“subject”?
oh god we're changing into crazy evil psycho-sociologists) aware of their actions. Punishment should be an encouragement to reflexion: “My behavior had strong consequences. It seems unfair! But why did it make my parents so angry? Why am I getting punished? Should I think of other feelings next time?”. That's why punishment has to be accompanied with conversation, and care. Alone, it's just a justice without any brain, that could push the kid to grow against it.
As for violence as punishment, particularly with kids, the purpose shouldn't be hurting them! Would we punch a kid, or even a teenager, in the stomach to punish him? Making them feel pain is pointless, counterproductive, and contrary to modern values!
(Unless you want to teach them that “Whenever something displeases you, be tough, and deal with it with violence”. In this case, go on, hit your kids all you want, but be sure to die before that, please :3)
But a physical punishment isn't necessarily painful. I remember getting a big smack when I was about 8, for insulting my mother in her back. Sure, my cheek burned a little after that, but nothing really serious, it was pain only for a second. What resulted of that, however, was a terrible shame. And that's where physical punishment is efficient when it's “genuine”: it brings shame. Nobody like that.
And today, I still feel ashamed of the words I used, even having thought it disgust me! Not only because of the punishment, of course. I learned their true meaning, how strong and mean they were, and how unjustified it was for me to insult my mom in such a way! But wasn't it for the punishment, I probably would have forget that day, marked today as “actions I have to erase as soon as time-travel exist”. Being violently punished made me think about it, let a strong mark (no physical, though, I'm fine). I really learned from it.
Being punished is good for everyone. While it can be very harmful if not balanced, it is a necessary part of education.
***
And yet that doesn't resolve the issue you brought: why would it be okay to punish a kid, and not a spouse? That could be a whole part 2. But it's almost midnight, so I'll try to be quick. I'm not fixed on that dilemma anyway.
Globally, I would think that an adult is more competent than a kid at understanding the world, the society, and its rule. Therefore, in most cases, they has the ability to educate them, to judge, and thus to punish.
Two adults though, have the same “level” of knowledge. Whatever their age difference is, it is commonly accepted that after maturity, people are independent minds and make their own judgments. It doesn't mean that they can't learn from each other, but judgment or punishment seem misplaced. Trying to do our own justice to another adult is forcing them to agree on our personal believes, which aren't references of any sort. There are Courts and a whole system for that. So yeah, an adult alone should never “punish” another one, especially violently.
Still, it's easy to find flaws in that reasoning. Sometimes some kids are rights when adults are wrong. Sometimes an adult have to yell at another to make them understand. Sometime adults can be complete idiots. Sometime a punishment has no effect on children. Sometime a punishment shouldn't even be.
There's still a whole reflexion to have.
Education is haaaard.

Kids are annoying and stupid. And the most annoying thing with them is that they are actually really perceptive and thoughtful individuals.
