The question “Did corporal punishment work?” sounds simple.
The survey demonstrates that it is not.
A pupil could be deterred from repeating one particular offence while continuing to misbehave in other ways.
The Specific Question
The survey wisely asks whether the respondent was punished again for the same offence.
That wording is important.
A boy punished for fighting might never fight again.
But he might later be punished for talking, smoking or incomplete homework.
Was the original punishment effective?
In one sense, yes.
In another, perhaps not.
The West Country Boy
The grammar-school pupil punished for play-fighting on a staircase in 1959 stated that he never repeated that particular offence.
He regarded the punishment as effective.
Yet he also made clear that it was not the final occasion on which he received the cane during his schooldays.
The punishment therefore corrected one form of behaviour without transforming his conduct generally.
The Lincoln Example
The Lincoln pupil provides an even clearer illustration.
After being punished in 1956 for failing to unlace his gym shoe, he did not repeat that exact misdemeanour.
Measured narrowly, the punishment succeeded.
Yet he stated that afterwards he became a more regular recipient of corporal punishment.
Measured as an attempt to improve his general conduct, the result was very different.
Temporary Effectiveness
A younger pupil punished in 1953 for disrupting a lesson by throwing paper after being warned to stop gave another revealing answer.
He regarded the punishment as effective—but only for a while.
He was later punished again for similar behaviour.
This is perhaps one of the most realistic responses in the survey.
Human behaviour rarely changes permanently because of one event.
Different Meanings of Success
The word “effective” may therefore mean several things:
Did the pupil stop the behaviour immediately?
Did he avoid the same offence for the rest of the term?
Did he never commit it again?
Did his general conduct improve?
Did the punishment make the rest of the class behave?
These are different tests.
A More Careful Verdict
A proper assessment should therefore avoid simple totals of “effective” and “ineffective.”
The more useful question is:
Effective in what respect, and for how long?
Once that distinction is made, many apparently contradictory survey answers become understandable.
