Sure, the Supreme Court held that corporal punishment in schools was not cruel and unusual in violation of the Eighth Amendment in Ingraham v. Wright, but we’re better than that now. We don’t let teachers strike kids anymore. We know that’s harmful, that’s cruel and that’s wrong. Or do we?
The road to corporal punishment in Cassville, [Missouri] a city located nearly 60 miles southeast of Springfield, started earlier this year with an anonymous survey of parents, students and school employees.
All three groups identified student behavior and discipline issues as a high concern.
“We started generating ideas on what we could do and corporal punishment was one of the ideas,” he said.
[School Superintendent Merlyn] Johnson said there was more interest than expected in what he called an “old-fashioned disciplinary measure.”
As it turns out, there are 19 states where corporal punishment has not been outlawed by state law, although Cassville prohibited corporal punishment by school policy in 2001. Apparently, things weren’t going as well as hoped.
The district investigated that option along with two others, which were also implemented: The creation of a Success Academy for students who struggle in a traditional setting and the banning of cell phones, air pods, bluetooth headphones and smart watches from the classroom.
But when alternative, positive, behavioral interventions fail, then it’s time to pull out the paddle.
Johnson said it will only be administered by a principal, in the presence of a witness and will never be inflicted in the presence of other students.
The policy states: “When it becomes necessary to use corporal punishment, it shall be administered so that there can be no chance of bodily injury or harm. Striking a student on the head or face is not permitted.”
The only corporal punishment allowed is “swatting the buttocks with a paddle.”
As the Superintendent explains, this beats suspensions or expulsions which takes students out of the classroom and contributes nothing useful to their education. And parents are able to opt their kids in or out if they reject the idea of allowing the school to impose spank their kid on the butt.
Will students actually be spanked or will this be held up as a threat to make kids behave? Will it work or will students test their teachers and principal to see if they’ll actually do it? Who knows, but some parents in Cassville seem to be okay with this either way, even if it didn’t win many friends on twitter.
“We’ve had people actually thank us for it,” he said. “Surprisingly, those on social media would probably be appalled to hear us say these things but the majority of people that I’ve run into have been supportive.”
For most of history, corporal punishment was considered quite normal and effective. Sure, there were excesses, but “spare the rod, spoil the child” was a well-worn aphorism. And it’s reminiscent of the days when public flogging was an ordinary punishment, one which quite a few of my clients would have happily chosen over jail time.
At the same time, the idea of striking a child has become widely recognized as child abuse, something unacceptable from parents and intolerable from teachers. But when long, rosy dissertations on the merits of positive reinforcement don’t work, what else do you? It’s generally an article of faith that corporal punishment is wrong and harmful, but what if it actually works?
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