People that beat thier children are not good parents. It seems to me they beat thier kids because they don't have any parenting skills, they don't know what else to do.

Corporal punishment is a tool that is used to teach the child about reactions to actions.. "time-outs" and sitting in the corner, just don't get it for many children.
Red marks and maybe some bruises are required actions for many that are now taking tranqualisers and staying in a doped up haze!
Get real! For all of written history the STAFF has hung from the wall of the schoolhouse.
Big JIm <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

You're in good company and a majority opinion these days! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />
Thomas Jefferson, in my opinion, thought the same way until the first semester at the University of Virginia. To Jefferson, starting the University in Virginia was his greatest achievement. He thought that people were born with a good nature, and he managed to obtain supporters to have no supervision or curriculum for the students. Needless to say, it didn't work out; the students were wild and rowdy. This was a tremendous philosphical defeat for Jefferson, yet, openly, he never waivered from his utopian theories of "true republicanism". This experiment continued for many years until the State decided to change things.
Historically, many people have denied the nefarious part of each individual's personality, or human nature. Without teaching consequences for despicable, immoral behavior, our youth are lost to decadence, self-indulgence, and immorality for a good portion of their lives. Some individuals learn faster than others, and seem to require little or no discipline. Thus, the bases of the theory that individuals are distinctively good people. Mature men and women grasp this basic fact about human nature early in life; some children require more rod than reasoning to comprehend consequences of cruel and callous behavior.