I’m not positing that the beating helped the kid learn. See Kaj_Sotala’s comment above for an example of how students perform math better when say, doing their job but they can’t at school. I found the Wire anecdote plausible, but I didn’t mean to suggest I accept the kid’s understanding at face value: I generalized to the kid being motivated, which may’ve well been the case even if the kid hadn’t been beaten but having been beaten, that’s the explanation the kid looked to.
Also, I think your historical evidence doesn’t necessarily prove your point. My impression is that corporal punishment was often rather arbitrary and to enforce social norms more than teach math lessons (though that too), and I would guess that if kids are beaten for reasons they often can’t understand (which is my impression from reading accounts), then being hurt for reasons they can understand (not memorizing their multiplication tables) has a diminished effect. I’m having trouble recalling any specifics, but I’m pretty sure I’ve read accounts from kids that suggest they saw the punishment as a motivating force for learning, whether it actually was or not.
Just to be clear, even if corporal punishment were shown to be effective in certain ways if used in certain ways, I wouldn’t be in favor of using it and would guess it would decrease self-motivated learning long term and there are hopefully more humane ideas to make learning motivating.
I’m not positing that the beating helped the kid learn. See Kaj_Sotala’s comment above for an example of how students perform math better when say, doing their job but they can’t at school. I found the Wire anecdote plausible, but I didn’t mean to suggest I accept the kid’s understanding at face value: I generalized to the kid being motivated, which may’ve well been the case even if the kid hadn’t been beaten but having been beaten, that’s the explanation the kid looked to. Also, I think your historical evidence doesn’t necessarily prove your point. My impression is that corporal punishment was often rather arbitrary and to enforce social norms more than teach math lessons (though that too), and I would guess that if kids are beaten for reasons they often can’t understand (which is my impression from reading accounts), then being hurt for reasons they can understand (not memorizing their multiplication tables) has a diminished effect. I’m having trouble recalling any specifics, but I’m pretty sure I’ve read accounts from kids that suggest they saw the punishment as a motivating force for learning, whether it actually was or not. Just to be clear, even if corporal punishment were shown to be effective in certain ways if used in certain ways, I wouldn’t be in favor of using it and would guess it would decrease self-motivated learning long term and there are hopefully more humane ideas to make learning motivating.