Yujia Huang is a third-year student majoring in Sociology.
Her honours thesis, which involved in-depth interviews, focuses on how people understand corporal punishment in an educational setting in China. She is interested in urban sociology, migration and social stratification.
Outside of school, Yujia enjoys photography, horror movies, and reading fiction.
While there are no official statistics on the prevalence of corporal punishment in schools in China, the topic is regularly heatedly debated on social media, the news and the public sphere. The Compulsory Education Law bans corporal punishment in school but this ban is subjected to varying interpretations by teachers, parents, and students.
My research examines how social class and past experience with corporal punishment impacts people’s understanding of it. The findings are based on in-depth interviews with former students, parents, and teachers. The data was analyzed via grounded theory and thematic analysis.
Preliminary findings suggests that participants’ perceptions of corporal punishment remain divided. Some believe it is a necessary disciplinary method, while others view it as unjust and arbitrary. Participants’ personal experiences with corporal punishment, limited access to educational resources, and broader social factors contribute to the various interpretations.
The interviews reveal a gap between top-tier city residents and the rest in respect to their understanding and experience of school corporal punishment. Tentative results also indicate that the acceptance of corporal punishment in school tends to decline with beliefs that teachers should have authoritarian powers. This research contributes to the literature on Chinese public culture and social life in the twentieth century. It adds to scholarship on social inequality within schools broadly, and specifically in relation to school disciplinary measures.
How did you become interested in this topic? Why did you choose it for your thesis?
I witnessed and experienced corporal punishment (CP) in schools in China, which was not a fun experience. I felt like a victim –isolated and powerless without an avenue to share my feelings. I didn’t feel understood when I talked about it with my parents. Therefore, I became interested in learning about other people’s opinions and experiences with CP at schools to understand their perceptions about their experiences and the coping mechanisms they employ to deal with the trauma.
Can you summarize your project and its main findings for us?
I conducted 14 in-depth interviews with teachers, parents, and former students in China to explore their perceptions of corporal punishment at school. Since the participants were from different social classes, areas, and ages, I was able to uncover disparate experiences in China.
Preliminary analysis shows that some people think it is inevitable because of overcrowded classrooms with limited resources, while others believe there is no justification. Among participants, the perception of the teacher’s authority and disciplinary options is changing. Instead of being an influential and authoritarian figure in traditional Confucian culture, respondents believe teachers should be less authoritarian. These perspective shifts might contribute to decreased support of corporal punishment in schools, and less trauma for future children.
What was your favourite part of doing research?
I like doing the data analysis the most so far! When I put all the transcripts together, an overall image gradually emerged. The results reveal striking similarities among respondents and my personal experience. I felt a sense of solidarity with my participants.
What have you learned during your research that has surprised you the most?
I know it might be cliche, but I am still surprised by how different people’s school experiences are. My data shows that experiences are shaped by a range of social, cultural, economic and political factors. For example, in top-tier cities like Beijing, corporal punishment rarely exists, while in less influential cities, some people are unable to imagine teaching children without using corporal punishment. I often imagine China as a cohesive whole with an urban-rural cultural divide. However, my research revealed that cities and provinces dramatically impact people’s lived experiences, quality of life and perceptions.
Has this experience influenced what you want to do after you complete your degree, and how?
It is easy to assume others share our beliefs, values, or ways of reasoning. However, researching corporal punishment made me realize that differences in people’s lived realities impact their support or rejection of corporal punishment. Sometimes, I feel like it is getting harder for people to understand each other but my research demonstrates knowledge can foster perceptions and bridge divides. My honours journey motivated to me to continue pursuing sociology or journalism in graduate school to continue illuminating people’s lived realities.
