The punishment of children

Abstract

As fascinating as it would have been to study "discipline" in general, it was clearly far too complex for a one-man one-year consideration. Accordingly, a single aspect of discipline, namely punishment was selected for study. As this, in its fulness, was still too ambitious further delimitations were necessary. I chose to carry out a survey in the community in which I found myself, centering on the children I was teaching. Thus it was envisaged that the thesis would cover THE PUNISHMENT OF CHILDREN, AGED 7 TO 9 (INCLUSIVE) IN THE MASSEY-BIRDWOOD DISTRICT. This seemed very precise, but it was clear that the subject could be handled in a number of different ways. For example, the standpoint of the children themselves could be taken, that of their parents, or again one could attempt an "objective description" of the punishing that actually occured. At this point the choice of methods was dictated largely by expedience. Thus, "objective description" was clearly ruled out since it seemed likely that not more than .00 something-or-other of parents would be willing to stage punishment demonstrations! It was decided to approach the subject in terms of facts and attitudes relating to the punishment of these children from both the parents' and childrens' points of view, - considering these against a background of the literature on punishment.