In over 15 states, schools can still paddle students as punishment
Corporal punishment remains legal, especially in the South. It still has its defenders. But the costs can be steep. By Donna St. George
Washington Post 8/10/2023
“He’s traumatized,” said Brady, who said she was not called before her son was struck, nor told afterward how many blows he had endured. The police declined to get involved, Brady said. Later, she filed a lawsuit over the incident — and lost.
More than 15 states, mainly in the South, allow paddling or other physical discipline in schools. Among them, Mississippi has long topped the list, relying on the practice more than any other, according to federal data. Most schools in America — more than 90 percent — do not use corporal punishment.
Scott County, a central-Mississippi school district with 4,000 students, recorded more than 630 incidents during the school year that ended in June, according to state data provided to The Washington Post. Brady’s district — Prentiss County, with more than 2,200 students — used it 34 times, about once a school week.
Critics say the practice is underreported. It also varies by race and gender, with boys far more likely to get hit than girls. Black boys, in particular, were twice as likely to be paddled or struck at school as White boys across the United States, according to federal officials. Students with disabilities were also at greater risk.
Children are physically punished for a range of behaviors — talking too much, disrupting class, breaking rules, tardiness. Some Mississippi districts say it’s not their first option to correct behavior but a tool to use after other measures fail. Typically another person must be present, and the punisher’s approach must be “reasonable,” not malicious or vengeful.
Yet psychologists and scholars say the practice is not just outlandish in 2023 but also ineffective in changing behavior and at odds with modern approaches geared toward preventing problems, learning from mistakes and understanding childhood trauma. For years, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association have weighed in against corporal punishment in schools.
Adults who were spanked as children exhibited more antisocial behavior and had more mental health problems, according to a study co-authored by Elizabeth Gershoff, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin who studies corporal punishment. Two more recent studies show that the outcomes linked with corporal punishment at home are also associated with its use at school, she said.
In other work, Gershoff and fellow researchers found that a history of spankings was linked to more depressive symptoms, more suicide attempts, more moderate to heavy drinking, and more drug use.
Defenders of corporal punishment see important lessons in delivering firm consequences when children break the rules.
Some say that the threat of being struck is a powerful motivator that keeps kids in line. They look to their own lives, having been spanked or belted by parents or other relatives, concluding that their experiences show that it works. And in the nation’s “Bible Belt,” religion is also central, including Bible passages that many interpret as suggesting that when parents “spare the rod,” they spoil a child................(use link to read complete article)
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