introduction

Educational punishment is an ancient and necessary means of education, but its punitive nature may bring harm to the punished. In recent years, educational punishment has been widely discussed and questioned. Education punishment and encouragement complement each other, and completely abandoning them is unwise. Inappropriate educational punishment can cause physical and mental harm to the punished, as well as mental and public pressure on the punisher, deteriorating the relationship between educators and the educated. In order to maintain the smooth operation of the education mechanism and implement the fundamental task of cultivating moral character, it is necessary to deeply consider what constitutes legitimate educational punishment.

1、 What is educational punishment

Discussed the concept, connotation, and legal norms of educational punishment. On March 1, 2021, the "Rules for Punishing Primary and Secondary School Education (Trial)" officially came into effect, clarifying the definition of educational punishment, which refers to the behavior of schools and teachers managing, disciplining, or correcting students who violate rules and regulations based on educational purposes. The academic community has formed a mainstream view on the connotation of educational punishment, believing that it is an auxiliary educational means for schools or teachers to conduct negative evaluations of students' illegal and irregular behavior in accordance with the law. The "Rules" establish factual disciplinary measures such as name calling criticism and self-criticism in legal form, distinguishing between narrow and broad educational disciplinary perspectives. The narrow perspective only refers to factual punishment, while the broad perspective includes all handling methods that conform to the connotation of educational punishment. The chapter also explores the boundaries of educational punishment, namely the issue of corporal punishment and disguised corporal punishment. Physical punishment refers to the behavior of teachers using violent means to cause physical and mental pain to students, while disguised corporal punishment, although not directly harming students' bodies, can cause students to suffer the same degree of physical and mental harm. Our country's laws and regulations clearly prohibit corporal punishment and disguised corporal punishment, emphasizing that the boundary of educational punishment is corporal punishment. However, the term corporal punishment has been given a negative evaluation at the legal and academic levels, in contrast to the positive evaluation of educational punishment. Some scholars suggest returning corporal punishment to a neutral term describing disciplinary measures, allowing for reasonable and moderate corporal punishment to exist. The "Rules" received opposition during the consultation stage, mainly based on concerns about unclear definitions of educational punishment, corporal punishment, and disguised corporal punishment.

2、 The entity norms that educational punishment should follow

We have delved into the substantive norms of educational punishment and clarified that the constituent elements of educational punishment include subject, object, and purpose. According to the "Rules", the subjects of educational punishment are schools and teachers, and students are prohibited from imposing punishment on other students. Teacher discipline often occurs in primary and secondary schools, while school discipline is more common in universities. The object of educational punishment is the student's violation of rules and regulations, not the student themselves. The purpose of educational punishment is to help students recognize and correct their mistakes, which is in line with the goal of "cultivating morality and educating people" in China's education. Educational punishment should focus on educational effectiveness, considering the proportionality between violations and punishment methods, as well as the psychological resilience of the punished individuals. Educational punishment is not the only means of dealing with violations. In cases where educational objectives cannot be achieved, other means should be sought. Educational punishment should maintain humility, follow the principle of proportionality, and choose the lightest punishment method.

3、 The procedural norms that educational punishment should follow

Discussed the procedural norms that should be followed in educational punishment, emphasized the importance of the principle of due process, and pointed out that educational punishment that violates procedural requirements is invalid. The program standards mainly include five stages: notification, hearing, review, decision, and delivery, while introducing two major procedural requirements: "care" and "hearing". The care program emphasizes communication and assistance with students after punishment, while the hearing program requires schools to listen to students' statements and defenses before implementing heavy educational punishment. In addition, the chapter also explores the remedies for educational punishment, including complaints, appeals, reviews, reconsideration, and litigation, emphasizing the highest priority for on campus handling and the prerequisite for off campus review.