Hot Topic (8/11): Should corporal punishment in school be banned?
Disabled Students Are Spanked More
More than 200,000 schoolchildren are paddled, spanked or subjected to other physical punishment each year, and disabled students get a disproportionate share of the treatment, according to a new study.
Most states prohibit corporal punishment in public schools, but 20 do not. The two watchdog groups that collaborated on the report, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union, are urging federal and state lawmakers to extend the ban nationwide and enact an immediate moratorium on physical punishment of students with disabilities.
“Corporal punishment is just not an effective method of punishment, especially for disabled children, who may not even understand why they’re being hit,” said Alice Farmer, who wrote the report.
The report, based on federal Department of Education data, said that of the 223,190 public school students nationwide who were paddled during the 2006-7 school year, at least 41,972, or about 19 percent, were students with disabilities, who make up 14 percent of all students.
As recently as the 1970s, only two states had laws banning corporal punishment, but 28 others have since passed similar legislation. Corporal punishment is still permitted in some form in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.
The most recent state to enact a ban was Ohio, where Gov. Ted Strickland last month signed into law a measure including a such a prohibition.
In states that do not have bans, some school districts do. In Louisiana, about 56 districts allow corporal punishment, while about 14 prohibit it. Last month the Education Committee of the Louisiana Legislature voted 8 to 6 to reject a proposed ban.
Roy McCoy, principal of Beekman Junior High School in Bastrop, La., testified against the bill. Classroom discipline has been an increasing problem, Mr. McCoy told lawmakers. In an interview, he said paddling is no cure-all, “but when other means of correcting behavior have failed to produce the desired improvement, it could be a viable option.”
“My view is that this should be a decision made by each local school board,” Mr. McCoy said.
Among the cases cited in the report was that of a 6-year-old, first-grade boy with autism, who was paddled at his Mississippi elementary school. An assistant principal who the report described as weighing 300 pounds “picked up an inch-thick paddle and paddled him” on the buttocks, the report said.
“It just devastated him,” the report cited the boy’s grandmother as saying. “When a child with autism has something like that happen, they don’t forget it. It’s always fresh in their minds.”
Alan Richard, a former journalist who is the spokesman for the Southern Regional Education Board, said he once surveyed attitudes in Southern districts.
“One principal said, ‘I was whipped as a child, so it’s fine with me,’ ” Mr. Richard recalled. “Others said, ‘We don’t do that anymore.’ It varied by community.”
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Your thoughts?
Is corporal punishment allowed in your school district?
You know it's funny I live in Ohio and did not know about the law being passed. Because at the 1st of last school yr I signed a release for corporal punishment at my daughters school because I have no problem with it. My daughter has never gotten in any trouble but if she does there punishment is the least of her problems. At her school I guess it used to be if you signed it corporal punishment was used if needed and if not they were expelled.Seeing as my daughter has plans for college this would not be good at all. I find this a little harsh but to understand they need the kids to follow the rules and understand consequences as well.I have the same ideas at home just not quiet so extreme.
My mom never let schools use coroprate punishment with us kids, and I will never let schools use it with my kids. Besides, how do you know that your kid isn't going to do something bad on a day the teacher is having a bad day and the teacher takes it too far? I will never trust anyone other then me and my DH to dicipline our daughter. That's our job, not the schools.
I think it should only be for the parents and NO one else. My kids was in a private school and the head of the school would call me and ask me to come to the school and give my son a paddling if i thought he needed. I agree in something like that but no way should any staff should lay a hand on my child.
I understand appropriate actions carried out by the school for correlating inappropriate actions in order to protect other students and the school, itself. Punishment is my responsibility for my children. Sure there are parents who don't discipline. Is the solution to that to take the responsibility away from the parents who aren't responsible? Isn't that like putting a band-aid on the problem? Let the responsibility fall where it is due. If you fail to teach your children and do your job as a parent, will you not also reap the consequences of your own action or inaction.. ?unless, of course, someone takes over the responsibility for you and "bails you out", like the school system carrying out corporal punishment.
When I was growing up, corporal punishment was allowed in schools. Although I was never in any kind of trouble to warrant the punishment I was aware of it and respected the authority the school had to enforce the punishment. It acted as a deterent. In my schools the corporal punishment was always well monitored and never performed by any teacher. It was performed by a principal or assistant prinicipal and the offensive had to warrant the punishment. Teachers were not allowed to haul off and whack kids at random, and the parent was always notified, and was given the option to attend or not. In this way the school was given the authority it needed to instill good behavior from kids. I seriously think that respect for authority is missing in today's school system. Most parents are uninvolved and many take a "no discipline" approach to raising kids. Kids need those boundaries. The lack or smudging of those boundaries, unfortunately, results in some of the bigger issues facing our kids today. Nothing is off limits and they think the world owes them everything, and many have problems with authority. I see it everyday in the workplace with younger adults entering the work force.
If corporal punishment were allowed in school, a parent really only need fear if their kids are ill-behaved spoiled brats. I don't think it is a matter of parent vs school, I think it is a tool to aid a parent in the difficult task of raising children, especially in this day and age of single parents and two parent incomes. Afterall if your child is well behaved and follows the school rules, there is nothing to fear.
What she said.
Quoting LadyWiggin:
When I was growing up, corporal punishment was allowed in schools. Although I was never in any kind of trouble to warrant the punishment I was aware of it and respected the authority the school had to enforce the punishment. It acted as a deterent. In my schools the corporal punishment was always well monitored and never performed by any teacher. It was performed by a principal or assistant prinicipal and the offensive had to warrant the punishment. Teachers were not allowed to haul off and whack kids at random, and the parent was always notified, and was given the option to attend or not. In this way the school was given the authority it needed to instill good behavior from kids. I seriously think that respect for authority is missing in today's school system. Most parents are uninvolved and many take a "no discipline" approach to raising kids. Kids need those boundaries. The lack or smudging of those boundaries, unfortunately, results in some of the bigger issues facing our kids today. Nothing is off limits and they think the world owes them everything, and many have problems with authority. I see it everyday in the workplace with younger adults entering the work force.
If corporal punishment were allowed in school, a parent really only need fear if their kids are ill-behaved spoiled brats. I don't think it is a matter of parent vs school, I think it is a tool to aid a parent in the difficult task of raising children, especially in this day and age of single parents and two parent incomes. Afterall if your child is well behaved and follows the school rules, there is nothing to fear.
Quoting LadyWiggin:When I was growing up, corporal punishment was allowed in schools. Although I was never in any kind of trouble to warrant the punishment I was aware of it and respected the authority the school had to enforce the punishment. It acted as a deterent. In my schools the corporal punishment was always well monitored and never performed by any teacher. It was performed by a principal or assistant prinicipal and the offensive had to warrant the punishment. Teachers were not allowed to haul off and whack kids at random, and the parent was always notified, and was given the option to attend or not. In this way the school was given the authority it needed to instill good behavior from kids. I seriously think that respect for authority is missing in today's school system. Most parents are uninvolved and many take a "no discipline" approach to raising kids. Kids need those boundaries. The lack or smudging of those boundaries, unfortunately, results in some of the bigger issues facing our kids today. Nothing is off limits and they think the world owes them everything, and many have problems with authority. I see it everyday in the workplace with younger adults entering the work force.
If corporal punishment were allowed in school, a parent really only need fear if their kids are ill-behaved spoiled brats. I don't think it is a matter of parent vs school, I think it is a tool to aid a parent in the difficult task of raising children, especially in this day and age of single parents and two parent incomes. Afterall if your child is well behaved and follows the school rules, there is nothing to fear.
So, if the parent is notified anyway, why not notify the parents of the behavior and let them determine consequence? I can most certainly teach my children to respect other people without allowing those other people to punish my kids, themselves. Kids need boundaries, absolutely. And so do adults.
Eight Year Old Girl Given "Catastrophe Award" By Teacher
- Cafe GroupAdmin
on Aug. 11, 2009 at 2:20 AM