Would You Back Corporal Punishment?

I was disappointed to read an article on the BBC News website this morning that said almost half of the parents of the UK supported corporal punishment in schools:

Nearly half of parents of secondary school children say corporal punishment such as the cane or slipper should be reintroduced, a survey suggests.

In total, 49% of more than 2,000 parents surveyed for the Times Educational Supplement were in favour, compared with 45% who were opposed.

Nearly all surveyed thought teachers should be able to be tougher on pupils.

But one teachers' union said evidence suggested behaviour has improved since corporal punishment was banned.

The research, carried out by YouGov, showed slightly less support for corporal punishment than a TES survey in 2000 - which found 51% of parents in favour.

And when parents were asked specifically about "smacking/caning children", support dropped to 40%, with 53% disagreeing. 

Support remained high for most traditional punishments, including sending children out of class (89%), after-school detentions (88%), lunch time detentions (87%), expelling or suspending children (84%), and making them write lines (77%).

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Although support differs between corporal punishment in general and smacking/caning specifically I still am shocked that only 53% of the 2,000 parents surveyed disagreed.

People think too badly of what is going on in our nation's schools, no thanks to the media hype or the Gov't succumbing to it. Teachers don't really go into school expecting to be assaulted daily or have chairs launched across the classroom. If parents genuinely want their children to be disciplined in this way then they should do the dirty work themselves rather than expecting someone else to parent their children for them.

What do you think? Do you support corporal punishment? How bad do you think attitudes these days are in schools? Would you expect a teacher to smack your child?