A Place for Spanking

The Star-Telegram (Sept. 26, 2012) ran an editorial today entitled, “Swatting students is archaic, wrong, counterproductive.”  A number of letters were also carried in the same day’s paper, most of which were against corporal punishment in the school and some were against it both in the school and in the home.

The article above pointed out that Texas is one of 19 different states that allow spanking as a form of discipline but the unnamed editor called it an “archaic disciplinary practice.”  The piece drew our attention to the Springtown school board’s decision to allow the corporal punishment of their students providing a member of the same gender is present when such discipline is administered.

While I wouldn’t want to condone the paddling of adolescents by members of the opposite sex, it is wrong to condemn all discipline of all grade levels.  While I am a strong proponent of home schooling, I do know that teachers often have a serious and difficult job of controlling and disciplining their students. Some children in the kindergarten age or even those in the first several grades haven’t had the benefit and blessing of parental discipline, thus they have not been trained by this legitimate means.

It is the parents’ responsibility to teach responsibility to their children. Part of the means to this end would be corporal punishment. The editorial seems to disallow any paddling of children and many of the letters carried in the paper strongly disallow any form of corporal punishment. This totally ignores what God has to say about the subject. While the Word of God does not promote child abuse, it does show the necessary place for the discipline of children. Notice a few of the scriptures:

·       He who withholds his rod hates his son,

But he who loves him disciplines him diligently (Proverbs 13:24).

·       Discipline your son while there is hope,

And do not desire his death (19:18).

·       Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child

The rod of discipline will remove it far from him (22:15).

·       Do not hold back discipline from the child,

Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

You shall strike him with the rod

And rescue his soul from Sheol (23:13-14).

·       The rod and reproof  give wisdom

But a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother (29:15).

·       Correct your sin, and he will give you comfort;

He will also delight your soul (29:17).

 

Do we think we are more intelligent than God? Let’s not forget that He is the one who created each child, including yours, thus He should know what works and what doesn’t (see also Hebrews 12:5-12).  According to the above instructions, if we refuse to discipline our child, we “hate him!  If we love our child, we will discipline him or her appropriately. 

A child who is not trained by proper discipline will die whereas one who is trained by it will live. Discipline, rightly administered, will remove “foolishness” from a child and will keep the child from Sheol or death.  A child properly disciplined will lead to the child’s wisdom. It will also bring you comfort and delight your soul as you see your child grow in righteousness.

 

Although these Bible passages refer to home discipline and not school discipline, there is a place for discipline by the parents or those legitimate authorities who are over the child.

 

–Richard Hollerman

 

Revised for the Newspaper

 

Because the local newspaper restricts the length of letters to the editor to a mere 200 words, this article needed to be revised and shortened.  The following is the abridged version:

 

A Place for Spanking

The Star-Telegram ran an editorial entitled, “Swatting students is archaic, wrong, counterproductive.”  The unnamed writer called corporal punishment an “archaic disciplinary practice.”  The piece drew our attention to the Springtown school board’s decision to allow the corporal punishment of their students.

While I wouldn’t want to condone the paddling of adolescents by members of the opposite sex, it is wrong to condemn all discipline of all grade levels.  Teachers often have a difficult job of controlling and disciplining their students, probably because they receive little real discipline at home. In contrast, the editorial seems to disallow any paddling of children—anywhere.

This totally ignores what God has to say about the subject. While the Word of God does not promote child abuse, it does show the necessary place for the discipline of children. “He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently (Proverbs 13:24). “Discipline your son while there is hope, and do not desire his death (19:18). “The rod and reproof give wisdom” (29:15).

 

Although these Bible passages refer to home discipline, there is a place for discipline by the parents or those legitimate authorities who are over the child.

 

Richard Hollerman

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