It is significant for children to learn what is right and wrong, while there are some people who think that punishment can be an effective way to teach that. From my point of view, I can barely take their side.

First and foremost, children may be punished severely just because of a minor mistake, which will cause serious damage to their physical and mental health. Because teachers and parents may sometimes be adversely affected by their emotions or discrimination. For instance, my mother prohibited me from eating dinner and scolded me for one hour just because I failed to come back home on time. I think the punishment is totally unfair to me. Some families will penalize girls for minor mistakes due to gender discrimination. Moreover, some children may suffer from mental illness if they are punished too harshly. They may consider themselves losers because they can not meet the standards of their family.

Secondly, punishment is not the only nor the best way to educate children to behave in an acceptable way. What is worse, some children may rebel against their teachers and parents. Therefore, they are not willing to correct their problematic behaviors. Punishment will tell children that acting like this way is not pleasing, yet it confuses children to develop the right way to behave. So, from my perspective, since children are adept at imitating behaviors from their parents and teachers, teaching by setting good examples to children is a more effective way.
In summary, I hold the conviction that examples are better than punishment in terms of educating children to discern the right from wrong.