This mornings Hearld’s front page story: Smacking Doesn’t Harm Children.
Quick check of other blogs reveals Adolf picked this up at 6:39 am. On Saturday morning?!?
My reaction to this report is a sinking heart. Why?
We already knew this. A generation ago everyone was smacked, those people are now fully functional members of society. It’s only this current generation, where smacking (and in fact the whole concept of discipline in some cases) has gone out the window where things are going pear shaped.
This report is solid, solid rock. It’s one of NZ’s longest running studies with large sample size. This compares to the shoddy reports with self-selected samples etc of other studies.
Unfortunately, this will only change one thing, the career path of the researchers making the report. They are now dead men walking. People who stand up to academic tyranny get the same treatment as those who stand up to other forms – severe punishment.
Nice thought that someone has been brave enough though.
Something should go here, maybe later. 