Corporal punishment puts state behind in education

Georgia falls in the top 10 of one education survey. But don’t get too excited —- it’s an embarrassing top 10: We are among the top ten states that allow corporal punishment of their students. Human Rights Watch has released their findings that corporal punishment is discriminatory —- special needs students and African American students are hit disproportionately to their numbers in school. Furthermore, they also note that paddling in schools makes students more prone to anger and violence.

Put that information together with the following facts: States that do not allow their students to be paddled have higher ACT scores and higher graduation rates; eight of the top 10 paddling states are in the top 10 states with the highest incarceration rates; and significantly more fatal school shootings took place in states that allow corporal punishment in schools.

What do these facts suggest?

> Paddling can be detrimental to children’s social and academic development.

> The attitude to children, which is reflected by allowing corporal punishment to be tolerated, is counterproductive to inspiring student success.

It would be in Georgia’s best interest to join the other 29 states and 106 countries that have abolished corporal punishment in all their schools. The longer we stay in this top 10, the longer we remain in the bottom 10 of academic achievement and success. The longer we stay on this list, the less appealing we are to businesses contemplating a move here.

Why can’t we let go of this archaic approach to school discipline? Because that’s how it’s always been? Because we think that’s the only way to control children’s behavior?

Just because it’s always been that way doesn’t mean we shouldn’t change. We know better now. We have the data that strongly suggest a change. We now have far superior tools for helping children behave. We do our children and our educators an injustice by thinking that we can achieve school success by hitting our students.

What our schools need is training and support for effective discipline systems that focus on prevention, that focus on creating schools where expectations are clear.

Isn’t it in Georgia’s best interest to ban corporal punishment and support our educators with real tools for achieving academic success?

> Marilyn E. Gootman, an educational consultant, lives in Athens. She is the author of “The Caring Teacher’s Guide to Discipline, The Loving Parent’s Guide to Discipline.”