Spare the Rod
In some old fashioned traditions, there is a saying, "spare the rod, spoil the child," which is worshipped by dictatorial parents and has long been a polite excuse for cruel body punishment. As to my opinion, it is not right and nor reasonable.
First, let us focus on the victim; the children. No matter what wrong they have done, they are still children, children who are characterized by their vague concept of good or evil, by their little knowledge of what to do or not, by their straightforward desire for others' love and care. They live in the pristine world of their heart. Such mistakes that appear intolerable to parents may be their first step to discover nature or their initial attempt to communicate with people. But what await them is only severe punishment, which breaks their heart, destroys their trust,roughs their temper, makes them conservative, and successfully leads them to build a wall to protect themselves while isolate from the world. This is no kidding. The famous psychiatrist Dr Freud, who is a master in studying the effect of early age experience on later life, proves that childhood experience makes both superficial and underlying significance in one's lifetime. And statistics also show that adult or adolescence violence has something to do with early life circumstance. A child living in an environment of violence will be doomed to become violent.
In contrast, love is what children need first and foremost.Kind words, gentle smile, sincere praise, proper encouragement, all these elements contribute to the formation of fine character and optimistic attitude. Please spare the rod.
Secondly, let us concentrate on the performer; the parents.Before our discussion, we can safely ignore the irrational parents. This sort of parents beat children because of their own distorted mentality stemming from their miserable life or abnormalgenes. Or theybeat them just for fun! The rational parents, unlikely, are in strong hopes to see their children superior to othgenes. Or theybeat them just for fun! The rational parents, unlikely, are in strong hopes to see their children superior to others. Thus, they apply discipline, which radically turns to riolence, meanwhile their hearts are bleeding. "We love our children so we beat them." These parents say, in order to persuade themselves rather than persuade others to accept their way of education. But a scream rises higher and higher from their heart saying, beating our child is no better than beating ourselves, yet what should we do to prevent their falling in pits, to protect them from drugs, street gangs, pornography without beating them? But I wonder, does beating work? It is not a remedy, but a poison. Under such pressure, children easily rebel and betray themselves. Their parents' action in the pursuit of gratitude and love from their children only calls for hatred. This is a lose lose solution undoubtedly. Please spare the rod.
After all, it comes to a problem of how to educate children.Instead of using rod, love could be a better solution, which works better, harms less, as I've mentioned before. Make good use of it, the children no longer need to feel bitter, the parents no longer need to reproach themselves, and the society will be more harmonic.
Please spare the rod.
簡 評
在中國，體罰有時是一種教育子女的方法。本文作者運用心理學理論說明體罰將對孩子的身心健康造成嚴重傷害，並分析了父母“不打不成材”的錯誤心態，一針見血地指出棍棒教育不是良方，而是毒藥，作者再三呼喚：放下你的棍子!在嚴厲譴責棍棒教育的同時，對孩子的殷殷關切之情溢於言表。
本文的最大特色在於，作者借用多種寫作技巧和論證方法將自己的感情融入議論之中。如引用權威——弗洛伊德的理論譴責體罰將造成孩子性格扭曲時說，“this is nokidding'’，義正詞嚴；強調體罰的傷害時，用“severe punishment breaks their heart，destroy their trust，rough their temper，make them conservative，and isolate them from the world'’的排比，喚起了讀者的深深憂慮；對父母體罰心態的深入討論，也是聲情並茂；各段末“spare the rod"祈使句的反覆使用，強化了文章的感染力。此外還運用了比喻、描寫等手法，達到了動之以情，曉之以理的寫作效果。
Spare the Rod