Corporal punishment and the achievement of educational success: perceptions of learners in the South African school context

This article examines students’ responses to corporal punishment and their perceptions ofcorporal punishment as a necessary form of discipline that brings benefit to individuals intheir pursuit of success. By focussing on the notion of ‘success’ as a dominant marketdiscourse, I describe how this rhetoric is reinforced through the disciplinary practice ofcorporal punishment – and how learners on the whole regard this form of punishment asbeneficial in achieving their educational aspirations. Foucault’s notion of discipline offers auseful conceptual framework in understanding how corporal punishment operates toregulate conduct and codify behaviour according to what is regarded as acceptable anddesirable. Research findings suggest that most students who are recipients of corporalpunishment display limited capacity for resistance and that students’ perceptions of theeffectiveness of corporal punishment, function to reinforce their construction as disciplined,hard-working and ‘docile’ subjects