The Psychological Effects of Physical Punishment in School
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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE FLESHING OUT THE VOICES: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT IN SCHOOL A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Linda E. Sanders Norman, Oklahoma 2005 UMI Number: 3170132 Copyright 2005 by Sanders, Linda E. All rights reserved. UMI Microform 3170132 Copyright 2005 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 FLESHING OUT THE VOICES: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT IN SCHOOL A Dissertation APPROVED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND POLICY STUDIES BY ©Copyright by Linda E. Sanders 2005 All Rights Reserved In celebration of love and family, In gratitude to my husband, son, and daughter -in -law, In honor of my mother and my professors, And in memory of my father and brother. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank the five members of my doctoral Advisory Committee for the invaluable advice and the various suggestions which they offered to help guide me in the researching, organizing, and writing of my dissertation the last two years. The many sage and helpful ideas given to me by the committee at meetings and by correspondence for further readings and critical reflection on my topics were a guiding road map for searching, exploring, and discovering paths to other interpretive frameworks to inform and shape my area of research interest. I will always be indebted to them for the keys to greater self -awareness and philosophical inquiry. With much gra titude and appreciation, I thank the distinguished members of my Advisory Committee below for their input, guidance, and many areas of expertise related to my research topic and for assisting me in this journey –a journey of not only engaging in the doctora l studies but also in experiential self -discovery through the living of that process: Dr. Joan Smith, Committee Chairperson, oral history and narrative research; Dr. Courtney Vaughn, Committee Co -Chair, sociology and phenomenology; Dr. Grayson Noley, Depar tment Chair, educational leadership and history; Dr. Tom Owens, Committee Member, comparative policy and international studies; Dr. Denise Beesley, Outside Member, educational psychology and counseling. They each embodied the ideal of self -actualization, outstanding accomplishment, and care and compassion for others, and I will always be tremendously grateful to them. v With heartfelt appreciation, I thank Dean Smith’s wonderful administrative assistant, Julie Comer, for her invaluable assistance in settin g up my committee meetings, for her many other acts of kindness, and for her boundless optimism. I also wish to thank my loving family for giving me the moral support and the many votes of confidence in my pursuit of doctoral studies to further my lifelong dream, professional development, and greater understanding of the world around us. With much love and appreciation, I thank my husband Jim for his technical assistance with the mechanical aspects of recording and copying cassette tapes, for his computer assistance with software problems and formatting, and also for his encouraging me to forge on during those times when my energy and stamina would begin to wane. His gracious assistance with household chores and procuring meals during marathon periods of dissertation writing and editing was indispensable, and his understanding and affirming my dream to obtain a doctorate was a sheer act of love. To him I dedicate and share my doctorate degree in hopes that it will help provide for us in our time together in this mutual journey of life and love, family and faith. With motherly love and pride, I wish to thank my son Jason and daughter -in - law Tammy for their cheery and optimistic support of my career goal and aspiration to reach the next level of self -actual ization. Their continual encouragement and steadfast belief that I could indeed accomplish this formidable task was a source of inner strength to go the extra mile in everything that I did in the doctoral program. I appreciated every word of their love and support across the many miles, when they, too, were very busy but still took the time to send me well -wishes for my endeavors. vi To both of them, I dedicate this doctorate to their ever -striving industry and altruistic pursuits, and to posterity as loving proof that sheer willpower will ultimately prevail. To my beloved mother, Elaine Hoelscher, I give credit for encouraging me over the years, from the time I was a child, to pursue higher education in pursuit of knowledge and skills to help my fellow man, to develop my interests and potential, and to assuage my areas of need. She especially encouraged me to write and to put my thoughts down on paper from the time that I learned to read, until the time that she herself began to lose those abilities in late r years yet never gave up trying. Her love of books and lifelong learning instilled a desire in me to continuously improve, and her own hard work to put herself through nursing school after World War II was part of a new sweeping era of opportunity for wo men in education and careers. To my loving and late father, Jim Hoelscher, I dedicate this doctorate degree as partial payment for giving up his own dream of obtaining a Ph.D. when a baby girl named “Linda” was born two weeks before he graduated with a Master’s degree and he subsequently felt the tremendous responsibility of providing for a fledgling family rather than pursuing his own aspirations. He, too, inspired me with the incalculable value of an education and with the prerequisite work ethic for obtaining that. Lastly, his being able to go from farm to college on the G.I. Bill in the 1940s-50s, his hauling bricks to build a grade school so that he himself could go to school, and his focus on the “net analysis” of data built a legacy of intellectual pursuit for generations to come. I also wish to dedicate this dissertation and the fruits of my long labor to my late brother Edward, whose life was cut short many years ago but who packed in a vii lifetime’s worth of philosophical inquiry and reflection into a finite number of years on this earth. As a child, his reading of his own volition the entire set of Funk and Wagnells encyclopedias from cover to cover amazed his older, adolescent sister, who thought then that she would never be able to do that much reading, ever. Loving the literary and the poetic, he would have embraced the noetic of phenomenological analysis. To him I re -dedicate the memory of reading aloud to him Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey,” lines 120-146, at his request after he could no longer see to read. I wish to thank, with much heartfelt gratitude, the research participants who gave their time and shared their memories on an important but personal topic. To those who have sustained corporal punishment in school, I dedicate this resea rch in hope that it will shed light on the issue for both those who have used it and those who have received it, and for both those who have contemplated it and those who have debated it. If there had not been this problem or issue that existed in human experience, there would not have been this dissertation, and thus my desire is that this body of accumulated work will facilitate a hermeneutic look back at the issue again in search of greater understanding and awareness, enhanced enlightenment and perspec tive. My hope is that, by giving “voice” to the lived experiences of the research participants in this dissertation, future readers may hear some of their own “voices” reflected in the narratives and that still others will hear those perspectives and acti vely reflect on them, keeping in mind that “we never totally exhaust the perceptual possibilities of our experience” (Moustakas, 1994, p. 93), and thus the act of reflection is never finished. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS DE DICATION..............................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...........................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES.......................................................................................................xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS......................................................................................xiii ABSTRACT...............................................................................................................xiv CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1 Statement of Problem.........................................................................................1 Definitions of Term............................................................................................3 Historical Context..............................................................................................4 Contemporary Issues........................................................................................13 International Context.......................................................................................28 2. LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................31 Psychological Effects......................................................................................31