Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
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A little whack on the butt
(Texas principal Anthony Price)
Sometimes you hear old-timers talk about their youthful days, and the terrifying principals who enforced discipline with an iron hand — or just as likely with a wooden stick. My father has a story from high school about a teacher who struck a kid so hard he knocked a tooth out.
Thank goodness those days are gone, right?
Think again.
In today’s New York Times they write about one principal who paddles kids with pride in Texas and notes that corporal punishment is alive in well in more than a dozen states, including Ohio.
About a decade ago, Ohio made it much more difficult for school districts to allow corporal punishment. In order to keep the policy allowing paddling, districts were required to form committees to study the issue and conduct a public vote. That was more than most school boards wanted to do and all but a few dumped whatever paddling they still allowed. (At the time I covered Milton-Union’s effort to keep paddling, jumping through all the hoops to maintain the policy.)
For my own kids, I strongly oppose paddling, spanking or whatever you want to call it. I’ve never struck my own children. To me, that’s the easy way out. Correcting them without violence takes a bit more work but I think it’s far more effective. I absolutely wouldn’t want a school official paddling them.
What’s your view of corporal punishment at schools?
(Image credit: www.nytimes.com)
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: My Favorite Posts, School Violence
Comments
By Rick
October 1, 2006 12:03 PM | Link to this
A reasonable, controlled paddling system, along with other disciplinary actions, could be a good thing. The problem is that so many people make decisions based on emotion.By Mary
October 1, 2006 12:02 PM | Link to this
Lea brings up an interesting point about child abuse law versus parental discipline versus school discipline and corporal punishment. The definitions of discipline, parental rights, corporal punishment and child abuse overlap from person to person. There are many mixed signals on this topic.By Oldprof
October 1, 2006 9:47 AM | Link to this
Lincoln may not have noticed the juvenile crime ‘way back when, but there was juvenile crime, no doubt. It’s just that crime was less often reported, and kids who fought, stole, or vandalized weren’t turned in to the police—they were beaten. (Remember, the “rule of thumb” references old state laws that a man could beat his wife and children so long as the stick was not larger in diameter than his thumb). Ah yes, the good old days—which were nowhere near as good as our recall paints them.By oldmanlincoln
October 1, 2006 5:38 AM | Link to this
My country school paddled and the teacher went home with the student and told the parents why (at the end of the school day) and in most cases the student got a “licking” from the parents for getting in trouble at school. There was no juvenile crime in those days either.By Lea
October 1, 2006 12:05 AM | Link to this
Very timely blog in my opinion! I was paddled a few times by nuns, and it never worked. Lectures, on the other hand, roll around in your head forever. That said, keep in mind that if a parent so much as places his hand on his daughter’s head to get her to stop teasing her brother in a public situation, and someone doesn’t like it, he could be humiliated in public and possibly arrested - never mind if he 1) doesn’t hurt the child and 2) barely touched her to begin with. And, if a child gets in a fistfight at school and gets a black eye, the school will call Children’s Services on his mother. Paddling in school? Pointless. But we need to look at the child abuse laws again, because they have gotten out of hand. They are there for a reason - not mass hysteria.By null
September 30, 2006 6:25 PM | Link to this
There are more punishments on parents than there are on children. Spanking in school will only work for the youngest children. There needs to be a “real and immediate” attention getter such as a swat on the butt to let a child know that you say what you mean and mean what you say. Many young kids don’t care if something is taken away and often forget why it was taken in the first place. If used in the proper place and time this could bring back the lost conscience of a child.By Mary
September 30, 2006 12:23 PM | Link to this
I think the problem is that parents and others do not always share the same views, values and sense of justice as administrators and teachers regarding specific incidents. For example, many academically gifted children act out when they are perpetually bored and underchallenged and misunderstood. If I could not trust the school system to understand the academic needs of my child, why should I trust them to understand our value system and any underlying problems regarding discipline. However, I also believe there needs to be a reasonable order in the classroom for the teacher to teach, and students to learn. Paddling does not necessarily acknowledge and solve the root problem.