Reinstate corporal punishment in schools

I am sorry you had a tough childhood. No kid should battle depression or suicidal thoughts. They are just not equipped to handle it. That said, you may have your "reason or excuse" for acting up, but you don't say what DID happen to you (if anything) for "acting up". Did you just get away with it and disrupt the class and its teachings? What would you recommend today? The ONLY solution you offer in your entire argument is to "sit in the hall". That the embarrassment is enough. You also conclude that corporal punishment would NOT have helped you? How do you know this? Sadly, I agree it changes nothing for your home life situation, but maybe a little structure is what you needed at school if you were not getting it at home. Part of growing up and learning how to interact socially is realizing that.... 'you can act like this here, act like that there, here are the boundaries for this place, whereas the boundaries are different over there'. Example... I got away with a ton at grandmas, less at home and even less at school. I learned what the expectations were at each place. And when I went off course, it was corrected and learned. It often frustrated my parents I was more well behaved for strangers than I was for them. That was a good thing. My own kids are the same way. Corporal punishment is not about pain. Its about an immediate, memorable and usually public action (consequence) taken at the time of the infraction. For the child to endure and others to learn from. I guarantee you, getting whooped (even if it didn't hurt) is more embarrassing than sitting in the hallway playing on their I-Phone or being sent to detention with their friends. Do you really believe kids are contemplating (and learning from) their actions in the hall? The "pain" helps create a memory (as it did to me)... I don't remember the pain itself, but I remember the event, the circumstance and how it made me feel. Embarrassed, like a child, etc. You mentioned your parents like today's methods. What are they? Because all I see is an absence of consequences hence the disrespectful, unruly youth. Admittedly, you make valid points about potential abuse of power (but that can be applied to anything), concerns for mentally ill (I understand that also). But in these days mental illness is diagnosed pretty early on. (whether its autism, bipolar or ADHD or anything else). Teachers are made aware and those situations as they are in fact special cases. Although, I will say I do not believe 'special' children should be in the same class with the 'normal' kids. I don't like the disruption and I also don't like the varying expectations being applied, displayed and encouraged in front of the rest of the class. I feel you should not be able to press the system for your kid to be in a normal class.... then ask the same system for your kid to be treated outside the norm. (I am sure that is another debate) Regarding teachers being pushovers... this plays right into my problem with today's society. All this liberal, don't spank your kids stuff is corrupting our youth. If all these young teachers were not raised so soft themselves, it would not be so much an issue. Soft parents and teachers simply exacerbate the problem.