IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 19, Issue 12, Ver. II (Dec. 2014), PP 85-89 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org www.iosrjournals.org 85 | Page Attitude of Youth towards Corporal Punishment – A Case of Karachi Prof. Dr. Memoona Saeed Lodhi*, Prof. Dr. Jawaid Ahmed Siddiqui** * Deputy Director and Head of Social Sciences Department, FH&SS **Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (FH&SS), Hamdard University Karachi, Pakistan Abstract: The practice of corporal punishment is widespread across the world. Asian countries in particular are facing this issue due to poor administrative and managerial policies. The most significant population, affected by any form of punishment is youth. Their social and psychological development is greatly affected by the negligence attitude of teachers and parents. The decision of youth and their attitude towards this practice are central to find, to what extent, they shore up this idea. The study was conducted to find the attitude of youth towards corporal punishment. The population of the study consists of all the students, studying in public and private schools in Karachi. Through convenient sampling, 200 youth were selected from 20 schools, located in Karachi Pakistan. Attitude was judged through questionnaire, which was designed and validated by the experts. The results show that majority of the respondents are not in favor of corporal punishment. Majority of the respondents said that their institutions are practicing corporal punishment and that they have been its victim. Majority of the respondents are neutral that they feel embarrass when their teacher use corporal punishment. All the respondents supported positive moral appreciation from teachers. The researcher suggests government to draft policy for all the schools to avoid this practice. It was also suggested to provide training to teachers for learning alternative approach towards discipline practices. Similarly, it should be the part of curriculum of every school. Key Words: Attitude, Youth, Corporal Punishment I. Introduction Children are interactive and creative. Their social, moral and psychological development is very crucial at the early age (Hurlock, 2001). They are sensitive to external environment. There are many problems face by them in society. The nature of these problems varies. These challenges often provoke their decision making skills and shape negative attitude towards various ideas and perceptions. Children spend most of their time at home, with friends and in school. Intrinsically, they have some innate characteristics, while they learn most of the behavioral attributes from external sources. Most of the learned behavior is greatly impacted by the environment they receive at home and school (Atwater, 2008). If there is a use of abusive language and punishment at home, then it is likely that children will learn the same and will retort in return. Similar case is with school settings. If teachers are motivators and encourage students, their moral, social and psychological development will reach the peak; however, if institutions fail to tackle their needs, one cannot expect best possible development. Parents, in particular are unaware about all the challenges, children face in educational institution. Bullying and verbal abuse is commonly practiced in schools and society, but the most common problem, children face in school from teachers’ side, in particular is corporal punishment. Various researchers have provided different dimensions of corporal punishment. It is defined as a practice associated with maintaining discipline among the children (Greven, 1991; Pervin, 1997) by the misuse of power. In educational institutions and in society, corporal punishment takes various shapes. In either form, corporal punishment leave scars in the memories of children which are unforgettable and unhealed. A research study was conducted to find the impact of corporal punishment on children. The results show increase in aggression, violent behavior and emotionally impairment among children. A mega study was conducted which also share that it develop mental illness and affect developmental areas (Talwar, 2011 and Afifi, 2012). One of the authors evaluated various global researches on the effect of corporal punishment on children and concluded that it highly affect children psychologically for long term (Dorpat, 2007). These researches give insights that corporal punishment is not correlated with positive behavioral outcomes. In Asian countries, the severity of corporal punishment is highlighted by media and research reports on various occasions (SAIEVAC, 2011). In South Asia alone, the practice of corporal punishment is common and contributing reason for behavioral problem and drop out of children. Most commonly, untrained teachers use this form of abuse, which hamper the development of children in many ways. It affects either gender or misled