He notes that hitting and scolding have a lot of side effects, which is why child-education experts typically frown on them as means for disciplining a child. One should not look at a single successful example of "the rod producing a dutiful son" and think that the method is infallible.
利翠珊表示，打罵的副作用很多，因此兒童教育學者通常不贊成打罵教育，更不能因為看到一個打罵成功的例子，就認為「棒下出孝子」是不變的真理。