What an interesting article, Jim. It agrees with developmental findings that I've read about African-American attitudes toward parenting, but honestly, I've hesitated to discuss this in class. I have very few black students, and worry that if I interjected this, it could be oversimplified and misconstrued. I'd be very interested if you'd share a little of what your students think about the article. Beth Benoit Granite State College Plymouth State University New Hampshire
On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 2:06 PM, Jim Clark <j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca> wrote: > Hi > > In my culture and psych class I use an activity on spanking centered around > a short magazine piece on use of spanking by Black parents. See > > http://io.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark/teach/3050/Act07-spanking.pdf > > Take care > Jim > > > James M. Clark > Professor of Psychology > 204-786-9757 > 204-774-4134 Fax > j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca > > >>> Beth Benoit <beth.ben...@gmail.com> 31-Aug-09 1:00:30 PM >>> > I've found it interesting that every year since I began teaching at the > college level (in 1993), when I ask how many of my Human Development and > Child Psychology students were ever spanked, the numbers become smaller. > In 1993 when I would ask that question, maybe one or two out of a class of > 40 or 50 would say they'd never been spanked. It was so unusual that heads > would turn to check out this strange creature, and the person was often > asked, "So how did your parents discipline you?" > > But over the years, as the number of the "unspanked" increased, I've found > that more and more students marvel that there are parents who did spank. > (Remember that most of these students would have been children in the > early > nineties.) > > It's my understanding that spanking is more commonly accepted in Southern > states - at least, according to > > http://www.childinjurylawyerblog.com/2009/08/spanking_in_tennessee_and_sout_1.html > , > it's still legal within many of the school systems. And a study done as > long ago as 1996, entitled "Regional differences in spanking experiences > and > attitudes: A comparison of northeastern and southern college students," by > Clifton Flynn, found exactly this: that students in northeastern colleges > were less likely to have been spanked and less likely to approve than > students in southern colleges. It appeared in Journal of Family > > Violence<javascript:__doLinkPostBack('','ss~~JN%20%22Journal%20of%20Family%20Violence%22%7C%7Csl~~rl','');>, > Vol 11(1), Mar, 1996. pp. 59-80. > > Beth Benoit > Granite State College > Plymouth State University > New Hampshire > > On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 1:41 PM, Michael Britt < > michael.br...@thepsychfiles.com> wrote: > > > In the latest episode of my podcast I interviewed the author of a > > great parenting book: Raising Children You Can Live With. Although > > the author discuss a lot of great ideas regarding how to interact with > > your child, it seems that my brief thoughts regarding the > > ineffectiveness of spanking is getting the most response. There's an > > interesting comment on the episode from a listener who strongly feels > > that spanking is needed in response to certain behaviors. You'll see > > my response as well. Also, I feel there's a nice "marriage" I think > > between behavioristic and humanistic philosophies in the author's > > approach to dealing with undesirable behavior from children. Since > > spanking is an experience that most students have had, the episode > > could make for an interesting discussion or homework around these two > > different approaches to modifying a child's behavior. If you want to > > check it out: > > > > http://bit.ly/vj4dZ > > > > Michael > > > > -- > > Michael Britt, Ph.D. > > Host of The Psych Files podcast > > www.thepsychfiles.com > > mich...@thepsychfiles.com > > > > > > --- > > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) > > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) > --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)