Should corporal punishment be allowed? (commentary)

Link- http://oct0pus.blogspot.com/ (Should corporal punishment be allowed?)

Regarding the topic you have written on, I do not agree with your opinion that corporal punishment should not be allowed in schools.

Corporal punishment refers to the forced pain intended to change a person's behaviour or to punish them, as defined by wikipedia. Now, let me explain why I feel that corporal punishment should be allowed. Many parents might feel that corporal punishment should not be used in schools the pain from the corporal punishment is not necessary and that talking sense into students would suffice. However, I feel that it is because of the pain that makes the corporal punishment useful and is the reason why it should be implemented in schools. On many occasions, talking sense into students does not work and these are times when other forms of punishments should be used, including corporal punishment. Corporal punishment deters students from committing the same crime and at some instances, they also deter others from doing the crime. One instance is the implementation of public caning in schools for serious offences. The public caning of one student would cause pain and embarrassment to that student, deterring him or her from committing the same offence. Concurrently, the public caning also deters other students from committing the same offence, for fear of having to go through public caning. Hence, the use of corporal punishment should be allowed in schools.

However, I do agree with you that “Better parenting and education would be the way to help our young learn the right things. We should try to understand them, and talk to them.” The use of corporal punishment should be restricted and only used when no other methods work. This is because the purpose of school is to educate students and not to punish students. Educating students and talking sense into students would be better choices than using corporal punishments on students when students commit crimes. The deterrence on the students by the corporal punishments is not very useful as they are “forced” to not commit the same offence, for the fear of the corporal punishment. On the other hand, if students are educated on why they should not commit the crime and understands the reasons behind it, they will not commit the same offence again.

On conclusion, I feel that corporal punishment should be allowed in schools but should only be used when no other methods work.

Freedom of expression or social responsibility?

Singer believes that freedom of expression is essential to any democracy and therefore should not be limited. On the other hand, Szilagyi believes that more focus should be placed on social responsibility. In the context of Singapore’s multi-racial society, where there is cultural and religious pluralism, which author’s view do you think should be adopted?

I think that in Singapore, a balance should be stroke between social responsibility and the freedom of expression. This is due to the fact that Singapore is a democratic country as well as a multiracial country, where there is cultural and religious pluralism.

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.” This should be the freedom of expression which is enjoyed by everyone in the world. No government should have the authority to restrict what its citizens are going to say. Should a government restrict what its citizens are going to say, it only shows that the views expressed cannot be refuted by evidence and argument alone and that the views expressed are true.

However, in the case of racist remarks, they should not be tolerated. This is where the social responsibility comes in. This is especially for Singapore as well as other multiracial countries as any racial remark could lead to impending racial riots. A racial riot could have a worldwide effect as well, where a remark by anyone could lead to disastrous result worldwide. A racist remark on any religions could have led to the buildup of discontentment against the religion of the person who made the remark. This could eventually lead to clashes between people of the two religions in other parts of the world as well as in the country where the racist remark came from.

Hence, social responsibility should be coupled with freedom of expression in a country like Singapore. Freedom of expression should be something enjoyed by everyone and anyone but people should exercise social responsibility as a lack of social responsibility could lead to disastrous consequences.