The piece is about a controversy that has been debated for decades, but her article was inspired by the Adrian Peterson abuse case, which broke in the summer of 2014.
1. What values, ideas, norms, beliefs, laws of the culture play a role in this text?
- Most parents don't want to be criticized for how they choose to parent, and that viewpoint plays a large role in this controversy. Parents want to teach their children the difference between right and wrong and help them become good people.
- While abuse is illegal, it is often unclear what counts as abuse in certain situations. Peterson's was deemed innocent in two separate child abuse cases. Even then, his teammates said that they believed he was just "disciplining a child".
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| Image by Milosevic, Milos. "sensitive noise / obvious 2". Uploaded 10/10/10 via Flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic license. |
2. Does the text address these cultural values directly or indirectly?
- The author directly addresses these values in the beginning of the article by mentioning the claim most people use that, "I was spanked, and I turned out okay." She mentions how people who were spanked as a child view spanking differently than those who weren't; that is, people who were spanked interestingly tend to be more supportive and in favor of spanking.
- She also addresses the claims indirectly by using scientific findings and research to prove that spanking, is in fat, harmful to children.
3. What is the relationship of the text to the values?
- The author is critical of the idea that hitting a child could ever not be considered abuse.
- She also is critical that physical punishment helps teach a child right from wrong; she says that spanking teaches children to fear their parent(s) rather than what behaviors are wrong.
- She wants to stress how detrimental spanking can be to children's mental wellbeing. When people realize this, maybe they will change their beliefs and viewpoints on the issue.
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