I come from a time and place (and I'm in my 30s!) when corporal punishment was used in school as much as reading, writing and arithmetic.
There was no 'witness', no phone call home. The nuns would beat us with sticks, in front of the entire class. The punishments were for anything from whispering in class to being late or getting a bad grade. The beatings were short and extremely painful and the humiliation of a public beating was long-lasting and very damaging to the mind of a young child.
It was made illegal when I was about 12 so I had 7 years of beatings behind me by then.
Consequently I am against corporal punishment for children in schools (it never 'helped' me in any way, shape or form, and drove me against my former religion) and am personally against hitting my own kids. I understand some parents hit their children and have no real opinion about it, I can only do what I do for my own kids.
The United States still allows corporal punishment is schools in many states - mostly southern, and are 'controlled' punishments, meaning the child is removed from the class, a call is made to a parent, a 'neutral' witness is found and after all this has occurred - the hitting starts. Some call it 'swatting' or 'spanking'.
Many are in agreement with it, many are not. I would not allow anyone to raise a hand to my own child, especially in front of a 'neutral witness' who is generally a fellow colleague of the person hitting! How neutral is that?! But...that's just my opinion.
Decisions based on what merits corporal punishment are arbitrary. What one person deems worth of hitting, another may not. And interpretation of behavior is also a factor. And the fact that the child has no say, or no choice, is terribly frightening to me.
The vast majority of teachers are smart, caring and kind men and women who have only the best interests at heart for their students. Many use their own money for school supplies and use up much of their free time to help further. They don't get paid huge salaries (ok, the vacation time is admittedly excellent!) and are generally a bunch of really good folk.
But obviously there are a few bad eggs in there too. Some may not even like a child and may have a colored view of the child to begin with. Or they simply may not like the child's sibling or parent and the child suffers.
A slippery slope indeed.
Another, newer form of discipline is isolation. Children as young as Kindergartners are sent into rooms with nothing but a chair, and remain there for up to several hours, depending on the situation. The media, including talk shows, are picking up on this new issue and like corporal punishment, there are supporters, and detractors.
It is a cliche - but is there a 'happy medium'? Teachers are faced with kids coming from homes with no discipline or rampant abuse, and have to deal with the consequences of that. What are teachers to do? They must have the support of parents to make education work!
And how do we protect our children in schools that have corporal punishment or isolation as forms of discipline? These forms may work - they may not. But they can certainly lead to abuse too.
What are your thoughts?
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It is politically incorrect to speak disparagingly of a teacher. Why on earth is that? There is way too much sappy praise for teachers who were 'nice' or 'kind' or 'caring'. That's simply silly. Teachers, all teachers, every one of them are essentially losers in real life who retreat to jobs that confer automatic authority and position upon them, where they would likely not obtain it in conventional employment. The higher up the academic food chain these individuals get the more entrenched they are in the NEA and all of its pompous, arbitrary and capricious ideology. Remember the ancient adage: Those who CAN, do; those who CAN 'T, teach.
August 1, 2017 - 5:06pmThis Comment
Had nuns for eight years of grammar school, late 40's -50's. Sisters of Mercy. They showed very little. Beatings were a daily occurance. Some say that not all the nuns were abusive. True. But the nuns that just stood by while there fellow nuns beat children are just as guilty. Failure of the "good" nuns to protect the children from there saidist bretheren places them in the same catagory as the actual perpertratos, child abusers. I say goodby to nuns and good riddance you were no good and Jesus must be ashamed you acted in His name.
November 2, 2009 - 10:08pmThis Comment
Ahh, the great Catholic School days. I also spent 9 years at Catholic School and was taught by nuns. We were paddled and we were also humiliated in front of other classmates as well as hit with rulers. Corporal Punishment is bogus.
I was offered the option by my Mother when I was out of grade school to return to Catholic School for high school or I could have went to public school. I chose public school and never regretted that decision. Due to the treatment I faced in the hands of nuns, I also changed my religion later in life.
I believe in Corporal Punishment for adults who know the difference between right and wrong although for children absolutely not. Any advocate to help save children in school from these people in authority gains my vote.
August 16, 2009 - 8:36amThis Comment
i was literally punched in the face in front of my entire class by a nun in a baltimore catholic school in the mid 70's she busted my lip. i had to go through the rest of that day like it didn't happen. when school let out that day i ran down the street crying to my mother who was waiting to pick me up .I had to go back to this nuns class after school to write on the black board "i must not erase my test answers" thats all i did was erase answers on a test and i got brutally assaulted. the nun was never questioned by my mother because of that vail the nuns were as good as God to parents I was 10 years old
August 13, 2009 - 3:31pmThis Comment
omg that is sooo crazy. im doing a persuasive speech at my high school to be against corporal punishment. I cant believe something like that was ever even allowed in schools.
November 18, 2009 - 7:49amThis Comment
Our family is committed to raising awareness and bringing about positive change for transparency, accountability and responsibility of Government Officials regarding the urgent need for Nationwide Uniform Standards that ensure Equal Access/Civil Rights of ALL Children in U.S. Schools. ALL children must have access to safe, healthy and supportive learning environments. The state legislatures of 29 states have abolished corporal punishment in schools. Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has proposed a school paddling ban tied to education funding, if approved, Ohio will be the 30th state to ban school paddling.
I am the mother of 3 school-aged children and our family resides in a paddling school district in Middle Tennessee. Two of our children attend middle school where paddling is administered routinely for minor infractions just outside of classrooms in the hallway. In our complacency, we never dreamed that Corporal (Physical) Punishment (Paddling with a wooden board) would be necessary for any of our 3 children at school, as they are intelligent, reasonable and well behaved. One year ago, I received a call from my 13 year old son's middle school assistant principal informing me that she was about to administer a paddling to him for going outside with his class when he was told to stay in. We were only called at our son's insistence, as all of our children have been taught from an early age that no one has the right to touch them, they can say no, get away and tell someone in order to protect them from sexual abuse. I informed her that we do not paddle our children and did not want them to. She insisted that he must still be "Punished" and we agreed upon an acceptable form of "Discipline" that did not involve physical punishment. We immediately wrote to Federal, State and Local Government Officals and Elected Representatives only to receive responses that tell us "By LAW, it is the responsibility of our Local School District Board of Education to adopt policies regarding the administration and operation of local schools. We have written to our local school district's Board Members of several occasions and made a verbal/written presentation at their board meeting on April 14, 2008 during "Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention Month" to demand they take action to prohibit corporal punishment of children in our county schools and to date, we have received NO RESPONSE.
Since the beginning of 2009 our 12 year old daughter has told of 2 paddling incidents that took place in the hallway just outside of her classroom and she told us the students names and the number of blows they received as she could overhear them. Teachers verbally threaten students with physical punishment and show them wooden paddles with holes drilled into them that they keep in their desk drawers. How is my child supposed to learn in an atmosphere filled with fear? Our family does not physically punish or hit our children and we do not feel that paddling is effective, it doesn't make the child turn in missing work, improve grades or teach them appropriate behavior. In fact, the paddled child probably feels humiliated and resentful of the teacher who paddled him. I am very concerned about paddling taking place in schools because it is not regulated in any manner and it's just plain wrong. We tell our children not to hit. Educators who hit students with weapons (wooden paddles) to deliberately inflict physical pain and suffering intended to punish them powerfully model physical assault/violence to schoolchildren as the acceptable way to solve problems. Schools and teachers who purchase weapons (wooden paddles) with tax payer funds and possess/use them are in direct conflict/violation of Zero Tolerance of Weapons in Schools Policies.
As members of Tennesseans for Nonviolent School Discipline, we worked on letters to editors of newspapers in paddling school districts in Middle Tennessee to inform citizens of the U.S. Department of Education, Office For Civil Rights paddling statistics as reported by schools in their community and what they can do to protect their children. The reported number of paddling incidents is staggering! Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) issued a report titled "A Violent Education" on 8/20/08 with recommendations to Government Officials to Immediately Abolish Corporal Punishment (Paddling) in U.S. Schools. The report cites U.S. Department of Education, Office For Civil Rights statistics where schools reported disciplining over 223,190 students by hitting, spanking or similar means for such minor infractions as chewing gum or violating school dress codes.
Tragically, current news headlines regarding investigations taking place in the Chicago Public School System include HUNDREDS of incidents of child abuse reported in schools and a 9 year old boy in Decatur Co., GA suffered deep bruising at Potter Street Elementary School when the ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL PADDLED HIM 3 TIMES IN ONE DAY!
The cost to eliminate educators right to assault and batter schoolchildren is $0.
Our family is thankful to educators who refrain from physical punishment of schoolchildren. According to an important new report on physical punishment of children in the U.S., read the full report at www.phoenixchildrens.com/discipline, the majority of American adults are opposed to physical punishment by school personnel. The report has been endorsed by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Emergency Physicians, the National Association of Regulatory Boards and others. There is a growing momentum among other countries to enact legal bans on all forms of physical punishment, bolstered by the fact that the practice has come to be regarded as a violation of international human rights law. There is little research evidence that physical punishment improves children's behavior in the long term. In contrast, there is substantial research evidence that physical punishment puts children at risk for negative outcomes, including increased aggression, antisocial behavior, mental health problems, and physical injury. The clear connections between physical abuse and physical punishment that have been made in empirical research and in the child abuse statutes of several states suggest that reduction in parents' use of physical punishment should be included as intergral parts of state and federal child abuse prevention efforts. For alternative discipline strategies, please visit www.stophitting.org.
February 21, 2009 - 5:34pmThis Comment
When I think about a teacher hitting a child, I feel ill. I don't know how a child is ever to learn to trust a teacher (or principal, or counselor) who might hit him or her.
I grew up in schools with nuns, also, but we were never hit. Discipline was rigid, however, and I remember feeling intimidated more than once.
I get a feeling in the pit of my stomach that corporal punishment is just not right. I also get a feeling of stress, because I can't imagine someone who made the decision to go into teaching feeling so overwhelmed that they think their only option is to spank.
I have to think that parents make all the difference. When a parent is involved and the teacher communicates that there is a problem, then they start working together to solve that problem. My nephew had a behavior problem in school, and my sister and his teacher spoke every day until it was fixed. But if a parent is not involved, and if a child has no respect for the school's disciplinary process -- time outs, and so on -- then I'm not sure what recourse a teacher has. I actually can imagine a situation where a mouthy, undisciplined child with a parent who isn't involved might straighten up at the threat of corporal punishment. I hate the thought, but I can see that it would have an effect.
Susan, if every parent was as involved, as thoughtful and as rational as you are, maybe there'd be no need to even discuss corporal punishment. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
December 19, 2008 - 10:24amThis Comment