Science is clear: It’s time to end corporal punishment in our schools
I was quite surprised to see earlier this week that Georgia has re-instituted corporal punishment in the school system. Whew! I thought that was disturbing. More disturbing was when Alabama Today looked into it and found that Alabama law allows corporal punishment in schools and most districts have allowed it. There are several things wrong schools implementing corporal punishment, so I’ll just hit the top three. 1) Corporal punishment doesn’t work. There are few things that have been studied as much in early childhood development as the use of spanking and corporal punishment, and not a single study has found that it does anything except erode the trust between children and adults, and exacerbate the problems versus address the underlying issues of the behavior. Don’t believe me here’s a few places to look: The Spanking Debate is Over published in Psychology Today By Noam Shpancer, Ph.D. Feb. 05, 2018 The case against spanking published in the American Psychological Association By Brendan L. Smith, April 2012, Vol 43, No. 4 Physical punishment of children: lessons from 20 years of research published in Canadian Medical Association Journal By: Joan Durrant, PhD and Ron Ensom, MSW RSW 2) The idea that if you spare the rode, spoil the kid is sincerely outdated. There are ways in which you can raise a healthy, happy, disciplined, un-wild child without ever spanking them. This has been proven using methods of positive reinforcement. So we don’t just get rid of spanking and allow children to run buck wild, we hold them accountable for their actions at young ages. We hold their parents accountable for helping them evolve emotionally and developmentally into young people that understand actions have consequences and that their behavior matters. We need to focus on the positive aspects and ways we can have children develop self-discipline and respect. There are school programs around the country that are working effectively to address children’s developmental needs. Some are having incredible results. How One Middle School Cut Discipline Referrals By 98 Percent in Just One Year By Sabrina Holcomb 3) School administrators should not be expected to be parents. We have to re-assess the idea that ‘where we are failing at home, that teachers and administrators of a school should step in.’ And that of course includes, taking major disciplinary actions against our children. Prevent Child Abuse America set a resolution regarding the use of corporal punishment in schools. Their resolution covers these issues plus some. Corporal punishment, such as spanking, has detrimental effects on the development of children. Prevent Child Abuse America has taken a position on this issue. A Resolution on the Use of Corporal Punishment in Schools and Institutions Whereas, age-appropriate discipline may be necessary in school and institutional settings, nonviolent means of discipline, such as giving time-outs, explaining rules, or taking away privileges, have been shown to be more effective than violent discipline. Whereas, the use of physical punishment teaches children how to use physical violence to control others rather than peaceful means of solving problems.1 Whereas, 365,508 school children were subjected to corporal punishment during the 1997-1998 school year.2 Whereas, currently nearly 50 percent of all states (23) allow corporal punishment in schools.3 Whereas, the use of physical force against an adult is considered a crime of battery or assault. Therefore, be it resolved, that Prevent Child Abuse America supports: Banning, in every state, the use of corporal punishment against children in all schools and institutions. Providing initial and ongoing training to all teachers and staff on alternative means of discipline. Promoting positive and appropriate behavior in school by teaching children appropriate behavior and coping skills through effective and proven educational and school-based programs that award good behavior and encourage accountability and peer mediation. A school should be a safe-haven for children to learn. It should be somewhere that they’re excited to go and look forward to going and seeing their friends, and learning and experiencing things. School should not just be a glorified daycare or a place for secondary parenting. We need to do better and expect more.We need to stop corporal punishment not just in our schools, but in our homes as well.
Yes, corporal punishment is still legal in most Alabama schools
A school in neighboring Georgia has gained the national spotlight after announcing it is bringing back a controversial form of corporal punishment for students who misbehave: paddling. “There was a time when corporal punishment was kind of the norm in school and you didn’t have the problems you have (now),” said the superintendent at the Georgia School for Innovation and the Classics in Hephzibah where paddled has just been given the green-light once more, Jody Boulineau. What many Alabamians may not know is that paddling is legal in their state too. In 1995, the state Legislature passed a law — found in Section 16-1-24.1 of the Alabama Code that permits the use of corporal punishment in public schools, but directs local school boards to adopt their own codes of conduct and disciplinary procedures. The statute, however, is pretty vague but it does prohibit any “excessive force or cruel and unusual punishment.” (g) Except in the case of excessive force or cruel and unusual punishment, no certified or non-certified employee of the State Board of Education or any local board of education shall be civilly liable for any action carried out in conformity with state law and system or school rules regarding the control, discipline, suspension, and expulsion of students. According to the most recent available data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in Sept. 2016, 107 out of 133 school districts in Alabama exercised physical force on its students during the 2013-2014 school year. The translated to nearly 19,000 Alabama students being paddled that year. Examples of corporal punishment policies in Alabama Alexander City Schools: shall consist of no more than three (3) licks administered to the buttocks with a smooth surface paddle free of holes and/or cracks. Autagua County School System: shall not be administered in the presence of other students and shall not include more than three (3) licks to the buttocks. Refusal to be paddled can result in suspension or expulsion. Dothan City Schools: The principal of a school is vested by the Code of Alabama with the authority to administer corporal punishment in conformance with the policy of the Dothan City Board of Education. But just because it’s still allowed doesn’t mean everyone is still on board with it. Mobile County Public Schools, Mountain Brook Schools, and Talladega City Schools. are among a few school systems who have outright banned the practice in their districts. Further, following the release of statistics of the U.S. Department of Education, the Alabama Association of School Boards voted to change the group’s position from “discouraging” paddling of students to “prohibiting” the act in in December 2016. Nevertheless, the vote doesn’t have any teeth to it – it was merely an official position statement that is not legally enforceable, and the issue has not been a legislative priority of the state legislature.
Corporal punishment persists in many Alabama schools
Think being yelled at by a teacher or being sent to detention is bad? Nearly 19,000 Alabama students were paddled in the 2013-2014 school year. That’s according to newly available data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, which found more than 4,000 schools across the country, and several within Alabama, still use corporal punishment as a form of discipline. Despite calls from the U.S. Department of Education to curb punitive discipline — which has been shown to affect minority and disabled students disproportionately — Alabama and 18 other states still allow corporal punishment in their public schools, although parental permission is often required. In fact, 107 of Alabama’s 133 school districts use corporal punishment, which ranks the Yellowhammer Sate third in the nation in percentage of students paddled overall, at 2.5 percent. Several medical and human rights groups have called for an end to the practice of paddling, calling it ineffective and potentially harmful. “You want to keep kids in the classroom, but to suggest that the only way to keep them in is to beat them with a stick is ludicrous,” said Dennis Parker, director of the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program. “Paddling can cause pain, humiliation, and in some cases deep bruising or other lasting physical or mental injury,” an ACLU-Human Rights Watch report said. In Alabama, males are paddled at a 4.5-to-1 rate over females. The data also shows black students disproportionately receive physical discipline as opposed to white students.
