In Many Public Schools, the Paddle Is No Relic

[XemaSab]

Anthony Price does not mince words when talking about corporal punishment — which he refers to as taking pops — a practice he recently reinstated at the suburban Fort Worth middle school where he is principal.

“I’m a big fan,” Mr. Price said. “I know it can be abused. But if used properly, along with other punishments, a few pops can help turn a school around. It’s had a huge effect here.”

Over most of the country and in all but a few major metropolitan areas, corporal punishment has been on a gradual but steady decline since the 1970’s, and 28 states have banned it. But the practice remains alive, particularly in rural parts of the South and the lower Midwest, where it is not only legal, but also widely practiced.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/education/30punish.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5094&en=eedd0ba5e7b78736&hp&ex=1159675200&partner=homepage

[Lars39]

1. The first thing I thought

when I saw the picture...there's no holes in the paddle.
I grew up where paddling was allowed, and have been paddled myself.
It builds resentment and anger towards the adults.
And gawd help the kid who lied and got you a 'lick' or two.
Bad memories...

[MercutioATC]

4. I was paddled in school exactly once.

My father (who, by then, lived two states away) called the school and told the vice-principal that if he ever hit his son again, he'd be looking for a new job.

I was actually a pretty good kid (well, at least I didn't get caught often). I sincerely believe that corporal punishment just teaches kids that it's O.K. for big people to hit little people. I'm glad my father saw things the same way.

[rodeodance]

6. 300,000 American schoolchildren were disciplined with corporal punishment,

......The most recent federal statistics show that during the 2002-3 school year, more than 300,000 American schoolchildren were disciplined with corporal punishment, usually one or more blows with a thick wooden paddle. Sometimes holes were cut in the paddle to make the beating more painful. Of those students, 70 percent were in five Southern states: Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas.

[rodeodance]

7. this paddling was no 'just a few pops"

Tina Morgan, who works on a highway crew in rural North Carolina, gave permission for her son to be paddled in his North Carolina middle school. But she said she was unprepared for Travis, now 12, to come home with a backside that was a florid kaleidoscope of plums and lemons and blood oranges.

“This boy might need a blistering now and then, with his knucklehead,” Ms. Morgan said, swatting at him playfully, but she added that she never wanted him to be beaten like that. “I’ve decided, we’ve got to get corporal punishment out of the schools.”.......

[bluestateguy]

2. Heaven help the peckerhead school administrator who does that to my kid

If some pissant school administrator hits my kid, I'll march down to the school and kick his bureaucrat ass into next week.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

3. Funny...

I was thinking the same thing.

I wonder how many times he's tried something like that with an adult?

When I was a kid, my father taught me a lot of stuff he learned in commando school, for Operation Olympic. He also gave me permission to use it on any teacher who tried to hit me. None ever tried, but I would have had no problem with using it.

[rodeodance]

5. James C. Dobson,

....The most recent federal statistics show that during the 2002-3 school year, more than 300,000 American schoolchildren were disciplined with corporal punishment, usually one or more blows with a thick wooden paddle. Sometimes holes were cut in the paddle to make the beating more painful. Of those students, 70 percent were in five Southern states: Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas.
..........

“I couldn’t believe it when I learned about it,” said Peggy Dean, a mother of three students in Union County, N.C., a rapidly growing suburb south of Charlotte. “If I’d known, I’d never have moved into this school district.”

As views of child-rearing have changed, groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Association of School Psychologists and the American Medical and Bar Associations have come out against corporal punishment.

...........

Among adherents of the practice is James C. Dobson, the child psychologist who founded Focus on the Family and is widely regarded as one of the nation’s most influential evangelical leaders.

[XemaSab]

8. That dude's a FREAK

You ever read Moral Politics by Lakoff?

He's got a whole chapter of corporal punishment that's totally horrifying.

[cap]

9. no one should physically punish another person's kid

you just dont know what is going on health-wise -- physically or mentally.

There are some kids that could stand to be walloped on the behind and there are others for whom that would be a traumatic experience.

If there is to be any corporal punishment at all, it should be the parent that does it.

I am not in favor of corporal punishment for my kids .

[bhikkhu]

11. And it is important to recall - public school is an arm of government

Or a "state actor". In Oregon I am unaware of any recent incidents of corporal punishment, and certainly not in my children's school district. Locally, if there were, I have no doubt there would be hell to pay - it is the job of parents. And any school-level justification would fail as an indication of a gross lack of preemptive supervision (which has been somewhat of an issue).

[struggle4progress]

10. NASP Position Statement on Corporal Punishment in Schools (86/01)

National Association of School Psychologists

Position Statement on Corporal Punishment in Schools

The use of corporal punishment has been declining in U.S. schools. Waning public acceptance, increased litigation against school boards and educators regarding its use and legislative bans have led to the decline. More than half of the states ban its use. In states where it is allowed, many school boards voluntarily prohibit it. Yet, over 250,000 children are being hit yearly in public schools with a disproportionate number being minority children and children with disabilities. Corporal punishment is any intervention which is designed to or likely to cause physical pain in order to stop or change behavior. In the United States, the most typical form of school corporal punishment is the striking of a student’s buttocks with a wooden paddle by a school authority because the authority believes the student has disobeyed a rule.

Discipline is important and schools have a strong role in teaching children to be self-disciplined. Self-discipline is the ability to understand a situation, to make appropriate decisions about one’s behavior in that situation and to ordinarily perform the appropriate behavior when unsupervised by adults. Effective discipline is primarily a matter of instruction rather than punishment. Many means of effective and safe discipline are available. Punishment contingencies in general tend to have negative side effects including leading students to be sneaky and to lie about their behavior in order to escape punishment. Corporal punishment is a technique that can easily be abused leading to physical injuries. Evidence indicates that corporal punishment negatively effects the social, psychological and educational development of students and contributes to the cycle of child abuse and pro-violence attitudes of youth. The National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) reaffirms its opposition to the use of corporal punishment in schools and will actively support removal of legal sanctions for its use ..

- Original Statement Adopted by NASP Delegate Assembly, April, 1986
- Revision adopted by NASP Delegate Assembly, April 18, 1998
- Revision adopted by NASP Delegate Assembly, July 21, 2001

http://www.nasponline.org/information/pospaper_corppunish.html