Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions of the use of
Scholastic Corporal Punishment in Indian Schools

Mark A. Seals
Alma College

Overview and Introduction
     The Alma College India Program is a global service program that has been active on our campus since 1995, and is managed entirely by Alma College in partnership with Mahatma Gandhi University and several community service agencies in southern India. The program centers on a private school that is located near India’s southwest tip, in an area full of rich opportunities like those listed below. 

• A society rooted in ancient heritage, grounded in traditional family life, and yet in the midst of modernization;
• An artistic and highly literate culture in which English is widely spoken alongside the native language of Malayalam;
• A religiously diverse environment where tolerance amongst Christian, Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist believers is evident;
• An area of stunning environmental beauty and variety with tropical greenery, coastal backwaters, and breathtaking mountain ranges.

Program Objectives
     The program objectives involve three main thoughts.

• To provide a meaningful and service-oriented international education experience for students
• To provide cross-cultural enrichment opportunities for the Alma College campus
• To serve the Indian people through volunteer service in the schools and clinics

Student Participants     
     Alma College students who apply to the program must have strong academic credentials, be open to new ideas and experiences, and approach the world with self-confidence.  Personal maturity, sensitivity to the needs and problems of others, patience in the face of difficult situations, empathy with people of a different culture, and resourcefulness is essential.  Students who travel to India must complete an awareness program designed to enlighten and prepare them for their trip.  Final admission is contingent upon acceptance by the program committee, and students must share their internship experiences with the Alma College community by doing a presentation upon their return to campus.
Internship Program Goals
     Program interns can earn 6-8 credits that are awarded through Alma College.  Specific courses may include biology, physics, sociology, chemistry, education, and philosophy.  The overall internship goals are threefold:  teaching experience, volunteer work, and academic coursework.
     The first goal for the internship includes participation in an eight-week teaching experience under the direction and supervision of professional educators.  Students first observe in the classroom, then assist the teacher, and eventually teach lessons appropriate to their curricular area and grade level. A typical day might include lesson preparations, acting as classroom aides, grading student work, teaching specific lessons or concepts, talking with students, and then reflecting on their experiences.
     The second goal is to create opportunities for students to perform volunteer/service work for local organizations such as health clinics, law clinics, environmental development facilities, or other locations that fit their particular vocation.  Oversight is provided through Alma College professors and onsite India coordinators.
     The last goal involves academic enrollment in 2 four-credit courses that are taught by faculty from Mahatma Gandhi University.  Courses cover a variety of topics and typically focus on Gandhian philosophy, Indian religious diversity, issues of environmental sustainability, or rural development.   Students attend MG University once or twice a week for lectures, class sessions, and use of the library.  Grades and academic credits are assigned under the supervision of an Alma College faculty member.
School Facilities and Accommodations
     The small, private school where Alma College interns complete their teaching experience component has an enrollment of approximately 300 PreK-10th grade students.  It is located five minutes from the city center and consists of two buildings: one for classrooms and the other for offices and a computer lab.
     Students who take part in the Alma India program live in a three-bedroom home, directly adjacent to the school, which is well maintained by its owners who live on the second floor. The student house has telephones, but students must purchase an international calling card in order to place long distance calls.  Food and cooking utensils are provided so that students can prepare their own breakfast; a hired cook prepares lunches and dinners. With ample local markets, students are able to purchase local produce and to explore Indian cuisine on their own.  Student interns are encouraged to travel and become acquainted with India’s scenic beauty and rich culture while they are in residence.  Becoming acclimated to the culture is just as important as acclimating to the school setting, including the use of SCP in the classroom.
Corporal Punishment – United States of America
     One element of observing and teaching in the Indian school is the use of scholastic corporal punishment, which often times elicits emotional responses from the Alma College students. Roy (2001) defines SCP as, “…the willful and deliberate infliction of physical pain on the person of another to modify undesirable behavior.  The more familiar forms of corporal punishment are slapping, spanking, and paddling the buttocks.”
     The use of SCP in America, as a way of disciplining students in our schools, can be traced back to the colonial period.  Common law held that teachers could impose reasonable force to discipline a child according to what the teacher or administrator felt was necessary for proper control, training, or education.  However, if the use of force was ever excessive or unreasonable, the educator could also be subject to civil and criminal liability charges in order to protect the child and to assure appropriate use of corporal punishment in the schools.
     The court case that brought SCP into the spotlight was Ingraham et al. v. Wright et al. in 1977. This case involved two junior high boys in a southern Florida school district during the 1970-1971 academic year.  The petitioners used the Eighth Amendment to claim that SCP was a form of cruel and unusual punishment, as indicated by Ingraham (1977), “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” However, Roy (2001) notes that, “The Court held that public school children and convicted prisoners were not similarly situated so as to warrant equal protection under the amendment.” Therefore, SCP remains legal in the United States, but more than half of the states have banned its use in public schools. In states where SCP is allowed, “The United States Department of Education’s most recent estimates put the number of school-administered instances of corporal punishment at over 600,000 per year” (Imbrogno, 2000).  Does your state allow the use of SCP?  It may surprise you to know that many people can’t answer this question with any level of certainty.  Here is a list of the 22 states that allow the use of SCP in their school systems.

     Knowing that SCP does still exist in American schools, I also studied the history of SCP in India in order to fully understand implications for the student interns from Alma College. 
Corporal Punishment – India
     Sarkar (2007) states that, “The Supreme Court of India banned corporal punishment in schools in 2000 and by law, it is banned in the states of Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Goa and Tamil Nadu. However, in spite of being illegal, several incidents of corporal punishment take place and most go unreported.” Only 4 of the 28 Indian states have banned the use of SCP. These states continue to allow its use in schools.

     Alma College interns had not been exposed to SCP during their public school years in the United States, and so when they first witnessed active use of SCP in the Indian school, they expressed dismay. One student witnessed that, “The use of corporal punishment is liberally applied in the Indian school which is certainly different than schools in the United States…this made me a bit uncomfortable, most likely due to coming from a culture where this is mostly unacceptable.”  Another stated that “…there are striking differences between the education I received in elementary through high school and the education that the Indian kids are receiving in the same years of their lives…these include the use of physical as well as emotional punishment.”
      When considering the history of corporal punishment in India, it is important to note its existence not only in scholastic settings such as schools, but also as a common authoritarian attitude among Indian parents.  An authoritarian style of parenting, as stated by Jambunathan (2002) is “…determined by a desire on the part of the parent for respectful, obedient children who have little input into personal or family decisions.”   Kakar (1978) makes the connection between obedience and achievement, and states that, “Asian Indian parents lay a great deal of emphasis in their parenting practices on familial bonds, dependence on and loyalty to the family, obedience, religious beliefs, and achievement.”  This desire to see students achieve may be the incentive that keeps corporal punishment alive in Indian homes and school settings, as noted by Graziano (1992), “This literature suggests that punishment is a more salient incentive for the Indian student.”  This type of child-rearing and teaching is then commonplace or normal for most Indian students.  One Alma College intern substantiated this by stating, “My host brother informed me that corporal punishment is used in most homes as well as in the schools, so the kids don’t know any other way of behavior management or discipline.”
     The fact that corporal punishment appears to be deeply and historically rooted in both parenting and teaching practices in India has been confirmed by other studies. DeSilva (1982) conducted research on Indian college students, regarding the use of corporal punishment during childhood, and found that “…physical punishment is commonly used in child-rearing.”  Graziano (1992) agreed and stated that these college students also supported “…teachers rights to use physical punishment” in school settings.
Pre-service Teachers’ Perspectives on Corporal Punishment
     Research findings from a study conducted 16 years ago (Graziano, 1992) indicated that many American college students were also supportive of corporal punishment as a viable disciplinary method for parents as they train their children, and as an effective management tool for teachers in school settings. This belief, however, may not hold true in the minds of today’s pre-service teachers in the United States, since corporal punishment has come under scrutiny.  In order to determine how perceptions have changed, I included survey questions that asked the Alma College interns to substantiate and document their claims.  The survey asked the students to complete written responses to each of the following items.

1. Define SCP in their own words.
2. Describe methods of SCP that they witnessed in India.
3. Elaborate on the effect that SCP had on teachers, students, and interns.
4. Discuss the effectiveness of SCP as a disciplinary technique in Indian schools.
5. Reflect on how these experiences will affect their own parenting and/or teaching.

     Each of these four survey areas will be discussed briefly, noting some common themes that arose and charting the frequency of those themes. After student perceptions and experiences with SCP are discussed, future implications and research plans will be listed.  
Definitions of SCP
Pre-service teachers from Alma College defined SCP in several ways:

• The use of physical force by a teacher, to demand compliance, obedience, correction, or respect
• Using intimidation, fear, and scare tactics in order to gain respect
• A culturally embedded way of disciplining.

     The most common definition included statements about using physical force to gain compliance, obedience, control, or respect.  Many interns also defined scholastic corporal punishment in regards to the use of fear or intimidation to gain control.  One intern stated that SCP meant “…using the threat of pain to encourage desired behavior…trying to get respect by instilling fear.” 
Methods of Administering Scholastic Corporal Punishment
     The most common technique of administering corporal punishment was to physically intimidate the children which included striking a desk or other object, yelling, or shaking a stick. Interns said that, “All teachers carried around sticks and many used them as a threat…teachers frequently waved sticks at the students in order to keep them in line.  It was clear that corporal punishment was more often an effective threat than an actual physical punishment.”
     Even though physical strikes to the body scored second to intimidation, the interns noticed that the frequency of hitting children was still high, “…multiple children were actually struck in most class sessions, usually on the hand.”  This method included striking a child on the palm, wrist or arm, as one intern described, “…the teachers use a thin, flimsy stick, presumably bamboo or something similar…the student is made to stand up, hold out one hand, and receive a short, sharp smack.”
     The final method included embarrassing the child in front of peers; “…after a math test in fifth grade the teacher told those students who had gotten less than 5 correct to stand…she told them they were not working hard enough…I remember one girl’s face in particular…she had been crying long before she was struck.”  This shows that embarrassment in front of her peers was just as powerful as the physical blow itself. The following chart illustrates the methods of administering SCP by percentage (see at the end).
Reasons for Administering Scholastic Corporal Punishment
     The Alma interns also documented the various reasons for using SCP, and noted that the most frequent one was due to disorderly conduct. These were usually purposeful acts that might include disruptions in the class, fighting during recess, or showing disrespect to the teacher. Alma College interns commented that disorderly conduct most frequently occurred in the lower grades, but by the 5th grade these occurrences had drastically decreased; “…first grade was often times out of control, but by 5th grade they sat in their seats causing little trouble, and were able to listen.”
     The second most common reason for SCP was due to poor grades on class work or assessments. Teachers often struck, belittled, or threatened the students if they scored poorly on a test, yet the interns said that most students were not aiming for poor grades, but were struggling to understand the content and weren’t given other instructional help or options when they weren’t understanding.
     Finally, students were also disciplined for late work such as forgetting their homework, or not finishing an assignment. The chart below outlines the findings regarding reasons for administering SCP (see at the end).
Effects of Scholastic Corporal Punishment
     When asked to describe the effects that SCP had on Indian students, Indian teachers, and on themselves, Alma College interns detailed what they had witnessed.  It was interesting to note that, while many effects were considered negative, some of the effects were also seen as positive.
Effects of SCP on Indian Students
     The effects of SCP on the Indian students were perhaps the most obvious to observe, and were sometimes considered positive. These positive effects included consistency with home discipline, eventual compliance to rules, and respect for the teacher. It has been noted earlier in this paper that corporal punishment is the common method of parenting in the home, and for this reason the interns stated that it may be more effective to continue this method in the schools since children are accustomed to it; “This is the way their society works, and school is the most important thing, so that is their way of getting the students back in line.” The fact that SCP trains the Indian students to change their behaviors so that they are acceptable to the teacher and to their peers is evident over time.  The unacceptable behaviors that were more obvious in the lower grades, significantly decreased by 5th grade indicating that these students were taking responsibility for their behavior. Finally, respect for the teacher does appears to be a positive outcome of the use of SCP as one intern observed, “The discipline of striking the students worked because the next day they wouldn’t test you as their teacher…thus they have focused and respected the teacher’s wishes…these students often become some of the best and most respectful kids.”
     Negative effects on Indian students were also obvious to the Alma interns, who stated that the use of SCP often times elicited fear, cheating, memorization, and regurgitation.  The following themes were documented from the interns’ surveys. 

• Instilled fear in students (fear of doing poorly, fear of failure, fear of physical pain)
• Encouraged rampant cheating in order to avoid punishment (inability to work independently)
• Caused outward behaviors (crying, tremors, silent withdrawal, anger)
• Reinforced memorization and regurgitation of facts (in place of true learning, retention, and application of knowledge)

Effects of SCP on Indian Teachers
     Alma College interns noted that Indian teachers were quite kind, hospitable, and gracious to them during their stay in India, and felt that these educators had the best interest of the students in mind.  The interns commented that the effects of using SCP on these teachers seemed almost unavoidable due to the fact that most teachers had been trained this way as children in the Indian society.  The use of SCP forced the Indian teachers to be strict, demanding, and intimidating in order to maintain control of the classroom. SCP was also reinforced by the administrator, and one intern said, “…a group of boys who were fighting outside all had to line up in front of the principal to take their turn to be struck on the hand.”  College interns noted that the use of this technique also seemed to imprison these teachers in less effective modes of teaching, and didn’t allow them any academic growth in learning more effective teaching strategies, methods, or techniques. One intern shared that, “…the fifth grade teacher, a very nice and mild-mannered girl in her late twenties, became very strict and went around the classroom distributing discipline to the students…we in the United States have a hard time imagining this, but the teachers and students in India have a hard time imagining anything else.”  Another intern agreed, and added that “…there was definitely a heavy emphasis on memorization and little encouragement for students to put things in their own words or explain the principles behind their answer…many teachers basically read out of the textbooks and have the students repeat some parts after them.”
Effects of SCP on Alma College Student Interns
     The interns also shared both negative and positive examples of the effect that SCP had on each of them personally.  The negative comments included feelings of discomfort and pity for the students, and being forced to use SCP to maintain control of the classrooms.  One college intern said, “I never saw a child getting struck without cringing and feeling sick to my stomach…I adapted by carrying a stick and slamming it on the desk to get the children’s attention.”  A universal comment was that the use of SCP made their teaching much more difficult, because Indian students quickly discovered that Alma College interns were hesitant to strike them, and so the children used that advantage as an excuse to misbehave; “I had a hard time keeping them under control because they knew that when I held the stick I wasn’t serious about it.” This forced the Alma interns to find methods, other than physically striking the children, that would bring control back into the classroom.  Most of them resorted to striking a table or desk, thereby intimidating the children into compliance, including one intern who stated,  “Although I never would have imagined it, I began to raise my voice and hit the desks with a ruler as a warning to unruly students…the class responded…they were now calm enough that I was able to focus my efforts on teaching instead of refereeing.”
     On the positive side, Alma interns noted that this experience forced them to learn alternative methods of discipline so that their own future classrooms would be conducted with clear expectations, open communication, and mutual respect.  It also demonstrated the critical need for consistent, appropriate, and immediate disciplinary actions by the teacher.  Several students even began to formulate a plan of what that would look like in their classroom; “I’ll have to gain respect from my students by having fair, realistic expectations and communication with them.”  The following chart illustrates the frequency of occurrence for each effect listed above (see at the end).
     After considering all of the effects that scholastic corporal punishment had on those involved, the Alma College interns were asked to consider its overall effectiveness as a disciplinary tool in Indian schools, and to also consider its place in American schools as well.
Effectiveness of SCP as a disciplinary tool in Indian schools
     After considering all the situations and ramifications of scholastic corporal punishment, the interns overwhelmingly and unanimously agreed that SCP is effective for India at this time, given the circumstances of their society.  One stated, “I do not feel that the threat of physical pain and social embarrassment are conducive to true learning…however, this is a culture with no room for failure...and also no way to improve.”  In essence, she was stating her belief in other methods of discipline and her desire to see them put to use, yet was also indicating that for India, there seemed to be no other options at this time due to societal issues and situations.
     Other college interns agreed, and their comments included the following statements.

• This form of discipline is effective…my host brother told me that all children are brought up with this at home and at school…although I do believe this type of punishment should be changed, it would be a long process that would take cooperation by all of society.
• It was an effective means of gaining order in the classroom…it does help the kids learn responsibility and certainly provides negative feedback for disruptive behavior.
• I believe it was extremely effective…you could see it in their changed behavior.

When asked whether there is a place for SCP in American schools, the students unanimously answered, “No.”  Their comments were based on other options that they had witnessed or been raised with.

• Teachers need to learn how to manage their classrooms without physical punishment.
• We, in the United States, are past that…we haven’t needed it for the past 10-20 years.
• That type of management has gone out the window in America…there are too many issues and problems with the idea of hitting someone else to gain respect.

Closure and Future Implications
     Though this study only involved a small number of intern students from Alma College, I believe that it brings up several points worthy of further investigation. There were implications that arose due to the unique nature of this study: the need to adequately prepare college interns who plan to participate in global service programs where SCP is in active use, the need to research the beliefs and perceptions of Indian teachers/administrators/parents on the use of corporal punishment in their culture, the need to examine teacher preparation colleges in India to understand what type of management training programs are reinforced, and the need to research comparative studies of public schools in India to more accurately determine the widespread use of SCP throughout India.
     College students must have a good understanding of different management and discipline techniques, such as SCP, and be prepared to monitor and adjust their own practices in ways that would be acceptable by the school where they are serving, and also by their own personal and professional goals.  Having a good base of background knowledge will enable these students to make appropriate choices and adapt accordingly in each situation.
     A second survey, similar to the one used on the college intern students, could be administered to parents, teachers, and administrators in India to collect data that represents their perspectives on the use of corporal punishment in all settings.  Further investigation to identify the existence of similar studies that show comparative data would be necessary.
     The need for more understanding, regarding the cultural use of corporal punishment in the home and school setting is necessary to fully grasp the connections between home discipline and effective classroom management.  The ultimate goal is to understand how teacher preparatory programs in India view the use of corporal punishment, and what alternatives, if any, are provided to the college students.
     It is acknowledged that this study was conducted on a very limited population of Indian students in a small, private school.  The final implication would be to do comparative studies in other locations, including urban areas and public schools, in order to more fully grasp the reality of the use of SCP in India on a more global scale.  Examining existing studies that show comparative data is also necessary.

References

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Hyman, R.T. (1993, November). Corporal punishment: Just what is it and what should we do about it? Paper presented at the
      annual meeting of the National Organization on Legal Problems of Education, Philadelphia, P.A.
Imbrogno, A. R. (2000).  Corporal Punishment in America’s Public Schools and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child:
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Ingraham et. al. v. Wright et. al., Supreme Court of the United States, 430 U.S. 651, April 19, 1977.
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      Educational Horizons, 72(2), 70-77.
Sarkar, Sonia. (2007). Spare rod or be punished, teachers told.  Retrieved March 5, 2008, from
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment