Spanking common in Mississippi schools.
What? Is this really a headline from 2009? Yep, sure is. The article “Spanking common in Mississippi schools” tells how 72% of school districts in Mississippi have discipline policies that include corporal punishment, including spanking. I was just surprised by this article because I hadn’t thought corporal punishment was even around any more. It appears that 22 schools throughout the US deem it legal to use corporal punishment. I had absolutely no idea. I was really taken aback by the statistics of schools in Mississippi that had the highest reported incidents of corporal punishment during the school year of 2008-09. You can find a list of these schools and their numbers at the end of the headline article. Something else I found very disturbing was that students with disabilities are usually more apt to receive corporal punishment or spankings and paddling.
There are multiple reasons given for and against spanking and corporal punishment. After reading so much from each side, I guess I could say that I am definitely against using it in the school setting. Even though there is much argument, I don’t know how much I buy into the adverse effects it has on a kid. Although, I am sure it has some lasting impressions for those that have endured it. An adult who received a paddling when he was a child could not for the life of him remember why he got the paddling, but he just remembered that it taught him to loathe the teacher that inflicted the punishment. Did that accomplish what it set out to do? It has definitely sparked a heated personal conversation between my husband and me as well. My husband can vividly remember getting spankings when he was a kid. It was just the thing to back then. He thinks spanking is an acceptable form of discipline. I can remember teachers I have worked with tell of stories of when they used physical force to discipline an unruly student. One teacher tells of how he grabbed a kid by the shirt collar and lifted him off the ground and held him against a locker and put quite the fear into the student. He claims he never had trouble with that student again. For the most part my husband and I have differing views about this issue. But then again, my husband has never been in the classroom as a teacher. He has never been at the throes of Social Services because a student and family falsely accused him of mistreating their student. I have. It changes you. It has definitely swayed me into opposing any form of physical punishment or contact for that matter. What do you think?
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I, like you had thought corporal punishment in school was a thing of the past. I can remember just seeing a kid get spanked left a big impression on me. I have never been in a situation where I was accussed or witness to any physcial punishment but I have also made a concious effort to never touch a student except for an occassional "high five" initiated by the student. I vote no for physical punishment at school and feel teachers who use it need discipline themselves.
ReplyDeleteI really struggle with this issue on a personal basis. At the high school level, we have reached a point where some students believe it is there right to do whatever they want, and if a school personnel touches them in any way they have been offended. This occurs even when physical restraint is necessary to prevent them from hurting someone else. I know that when corporal punishment was allowed and a regular practice in school, there was various abuse to the practice. I never was a victim of corporal punishment myself, as the worst punishment would come from home if we got in trouble at school. However, most people I know that received the punishment do remember what they did to deserve it. Did they learn from it? Good question.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher, I am afraid of physical contact with students. We as a society find it too easy to automatically jump to conclusions when a student makes a claim against an adult. I have been falsely accused a few times, and it is not fun defending yourself against these claims.
A teacher friend of mine came from a school where they used a paddle. If a student misbehaved, they were given a warning. If they continued or were a repeat offender, they were sent to the principal’s office along with the teacher and paddled. The principal paddled, as the teacher was present. I have always asked her how she could sit and watch someone paddle a student.
ReplyDeleteI guess I am not sure if I would be for or against corporal punishment. I don't think a child should be beat or anything like that, but at times I think some of my students just need to be spanked. There is such a loss of respect in the school setting lately and in homes, I don't think I would be totally against it. I was not spanked as a child; my parents used guilt and disappointment. But with some children, they seem to have no guilt. So would spanking be the next step? I am not sure.
This is a hugely debated and controversial subject. I do believe that teachers who are in relatively good systems with few discipline problems think this is a bad idea and it is abuse. However, there are schools were students run things because they have gotten to the point where adults do not matter to them. They are not scared, they are not respectful, and they do not care what adults have to say about their behavior.
ReplyDeleteI think it should be in more schools. Now, whether it is abuse or not is debatable. Parents have become so scared to discipline their children appropriately today because the government says spanking a child could be abuse. But, I DO KNOW, when I was a kid, I did stupid stuff and got disciplined for it by spankings. No time out or groundings for me. I am a much better person for it today. There is an instant worry or nagging in me when I do something I know I shouldn't now, which I believe is good. This keeps me out of trouble.
There are a few schools in south Georgia that have paddling and it MUST be okay'd with the parents at the beginning of the year to be allowed. Almost all parents okay it and there are very little discipline problems at the school. In my school and district, the students are simply unafraid of teachers or administration. They don't care if they get into trouble. A standard must be set. Not everyone is intrinsically motivated by ISS or OSS because there are no consequences at home. I truly believe that if a student at my school were paddled as discipline, it would set a hard line in the sand for these kids who constantly act out with no fear of getting in trouble.