In its waning days, the Obama Department of Education hopes to rid American schools of the outdated and discredited practice of paddling and caning students.
The U.S. Department of Education sent a letter to governors and state school leaders last week urging them to end corporal punishment once and for all. The U.S. DOE can’t compel states to outlaw corporal punishment; it can only counsel against it. In a conference call with reporters, Education Secretary John King condemned corporal punishment as “harmful, ineffective and often discriminatory” and “criminal assault and battery if experienced by adults.”
So why does it persist in Georgia, one of 15 states that sanction school paddling? Georgia is among the seven states that account for most of the paddling that still occurs in American schools.
A rationale can be found in social media exchanges I had on the issue with AJC readers. In response to my support of the elimination of corporal punishment in Georgia schools, a reader said, “Right, let’s take another one from the dwindling number of consequences teachers can use to reinforce appropriate behavior.”
The rebuttal argument — supported by the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics — is reflected in another reader's retort: " No teacher worth his/her salt needs paddling in his/her arsenal."
In a 2008 survey of teachers in the Midwest, South, and Southwest on effective classroom management techniques, teachers ranked corporal punishment as having the lowest effectiveness. Despite a nostalgia for the therapeutic value of childhood "whuppings," there's no evidence physically striking children makes them better students or people.
Educators have a host of better options than walloping children; suspend the kids, notify parents or send them home. Yet, Secretary King said more than 110,000 students suffered corporal punishment in 2013-14. Many were African-American males. African-American girls are also frequent victims. While 15 percent of the girls in U.S. schools are black, they account for 41 percent of the girls who experience corporal punishment, said Fatima Goss Graves of the National Women’s Law Center. Among the reasons for paddling in recent high-profile cases: dress code violations, tardiness and running in the cafeteria.
“Our schools are bound by a sacred trust to safeguard the well-being, safety, and extraordinary potential of the children and youth within the communities they serve,” King said. “While some may argue that corporal punishment is a tradition in some school communities, society has evolved and past practice alone is no justification. No school can be considered safe or supportive if its students are fearful of being physically punished. We strongly urge states to eliminate the use of corporal punishment in schools – a practice that educators, civil rights advocates, medical professionals, and researchers agree is harmful to students and which the data show us unequivocally disproportionally impacts students of color and students with disabilities.”
Georgia leaves the decision to use corporal punishment to districts. While metro Atlanta schools have long ago retired the paddle, corporal punishment persists in rural areas. A video earlier this year of two Jasper County educators attempting to hold down a crying 5-year-old to paddle him provoked worldwide consternation. Nearly 6 million people viewed the harrowing cellphone video recorded by the child's mother.
According to 2015 Georgia data, as reported by districts, 5,849 students were disciplined in school using corporal punishment. The total number of incidents of corporal punishment was 9,713. Among students with disabilities, corporal punishment was inflicted on 991 children. The total number of incidents of corporal punishment among children with disabilities was 1,760. (Some kids were paddled more than once.)
Schools should not physically discipline children for moral, psychological and legal reasons. “This does not matter who is secretary of education,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.6 million-member American Federation of Teachers. “This is a matter that we must all be — I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Democrat, a conservative or a progressive — we must all be about safe and welcoming places for all students.”
About the Author
