Corporal punishment alive and well in the U.S.

I am in favor of parents spanking their own children in certain circumstances. For my family that is when other punishments don't work, situations involving safety, and issues of direct disobedience. It must be done without anger.

However, I just received a not from my daughter's MIDDLE SCHOOL asking me to sign a letter of permission for her to be paddled, on the buttocks, with another adult present.

I wrote HELL NO in big red letters across the paper and sent it back.

There are so many things wrong with this. First, she is past the age where spankings are generally appropriate. Secondly, if by the time a child gets to middle school, and doesn't respond to other forms of punishment, they need to be removed from the school. Finally, and most importantly, spanking should only be done by parents and in some rare cases primary care givers (grandparents that provide the majority of child care when the child is awake, etc.)

Institutions (schools, daycares, churches, etc.) should NEVER spank a child.

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I sure would like to know WHERE in Texas this happened! I've spent the last 28 years in Texas, starting at age 11, and the last time I was aware of corporal punishment being allowed was 20 years ago when I was a senior in high school!

As a former high school teacher myself (am now a SAHM, thank you for asking!), not only were we NOT allowed to physically punish kids in ANY way, we were STRONGLY advised not to even TOUCH them, lest a sue-happy parent come calling on the district (who, by reputation has $$, but in reality, is almost broke!)

Over the last 8 years, I've seen a steady decline in behavior, respect, responsibility, and concern for consequences (which totally mirrors the PARENTS' example!). The majority of teachers would have loved to see a comeback of the good old paddle..... but for the UPPER grades! Who the heck paddles a little kid?

Part of the reason paddling worked when I was in high school, was the HUMILIATION factor of getting paddled.... GIRLS almost NEVER got paddled, and the guys who did liked to brag about it, but almost always didn't get paddled more than once. It was done by a MALE PRINCIPAL or COACH, with another adult witness in the room. The THREAT of physical pain is a UNIVERSAL DETERRANT in the ANIMAL KINGDOM! Look it up!

I know for a fact that when I got too mouthy or out-of-control, just the mere mention of being sent to the principal's office was enough to shut me down! Oh, but wait.... that was back when I knew my MOTHER would probably punish me too (because a call home was always made) because she SUPPORTED the TEACHER and school in their AUTHORITY. What a concept that has gone by the wayside.... just as allowing girls to wear thong underwear that shows above their jeans in school made its grand debut!

I was an ESL teacher who dealt with kids who were 99% from other countries (let's not talk about the 1% who were born and raised here and still couldn't speak English!) and almost every time I had a problem with (a boy's) behavior, the parent would simply tell me, "Just HIT him!" Seriously! Mexican, Salvadorean, Indian, Iraqi, Korean, it didn't matter! Of course, I NEVER did it, and would explain that we weren't allowed to do that, at which point the parent (frequently the father) would start regaling me with tales of what type of physical punishments are meted out in their home country (if you went to a parochial school, you'll have some idea...!)

I LOVE the fact that TEXAS is the only state mentioned in this article, as if this state IS the SOUTH!

Texas has some of the HARDEST-WORKING TEACHERS in this country! Why do I say that? Because we are NOT UNIONIZED, therefore everything we do before, during, and after school is taken into consideration when contract renewals come up. Most of the teachers I know work well over 40 hours a week WITHOUT any extra pay, we do unpaid hall/cafeteria duty, sponsor clubs/non-UIL teams and pay for supplies out of our own pockets (thank God for the BIG $200 tax break from the IRS!), and sit in on countless meetings, seminars, and conferences before school, during our lunch break/planning period, after school into the evening hours, and on Saturdays. Boy, do speakers from unionized states freak out when they learn that we aren't being paid a cent for being there to listen to them!!

Again, I would love to know exactly where all this spanking is taking place! My guess is A) in primarily in minority-heavy, B) small town schools, and the punishment is being done by, C) like-minority teachers/authorities (Hispanic teacher-Hispanic student, Black teacher - Black student). WHITE teachers are way too afraid of being sued/fired for doing such a thing in this age insane sue-happy parents!

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I was raised in Alabama which would be a state that allows punishment. I would also like to say that our school was about 95 percent white so the ones that got paddled were white. Children that got paddled were in a situation that determined it ie fighting. I would like to also point out that corpral punish was wide spread in 70's and 80's and it wasnt till they began taking it out that violence in the schools got worse. Kids need to know that there are hard reprocussions to there behavior. I do believe that a principal should be the one to do it, not a frustrated teacher. Being sent to the principals office generally meant you had stepped over a line and paddling was imiment.

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Touch my kid and I'll touch you. period.

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I went to Catholic school in the early 80's and they sent home a slip for my mother to sign that would give them permission to use "the paddle".

My mother declined and for whatever reason I did end up in the principal's office that year and saw "the paddle" hung up on a wall and boy oh boy was I glad she refused to sign that sheet.

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I can't believe this still exist. In Canada a teacher would get fired and there licensed suspended if they hit a child.

My mother was a teacher for many years, when she started teaching corporal punishment was legal; however she never lifted her hand to any child including her own. All the kids at school always wanted to be in her class she had the highest class average and the lowest number of drop out and failures in the city. This just goes to show that you do not need violence to raise a child.

Pierrette from Wiseman Conspiracy

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I call BS on the idea that schools are going to heck because kids aren't being paddled. Problems in schools have to do with lack of resources (like the Texas teacher above so oddly proud of being ripped off by her former employers) and with outside problems the kids bring in with them, problems that are not solved by a teacher hitting them with a board. Some kids act up because they're abused--would paddling help that kid? Or really, any kid?

And anyone who beat my child would have to deal with me, muy pronto. I want my child to have discipline, and he will learn to be polite, respectful, etc; but not by beating it into him. Schools that do this just aren't trying and aren't dealing with the issues behind the bad behavior. Send my kid home, if he's that disruptive, and call a meeting and we'll talk. Anything else is way over the line.

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Notice a complete lack of details ("barrier to learning", "teaches violence").

Yet, I never see Texas on the bottom of the "worse schools in America" lists, and you have WAY LESS violent crime in Texas (must be all those guns concealed everywhere and their willingness to execute criminals...)

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I'm 40 and live in Tennessee. Until I was in 7th grade, teachers didn't even have to send a note home informing the parent they had paddled a child. When I was in 3rd grade, there were 2 teachers who frequently lined up the entire class for a paddling. Luckily for them, I was not in one of their classes. That would NOT have gone over well with my parents.
Oddly, the paddling of elementary age children is more common here than the paddling of intermediate, middle, and high school age children. There is even a section in our school handbook about corporal punishment.
To paraphrase: corporal punishment/paddling (they word it that way all through the section) is only used after other methods have failed; the principal will contact parent/guardian prior to each instance; nature of the punishment willbe in proportion to the gravity of the offense &the apparent disposition of the offender; age, sex, size, physical & emotional condition of child will determine the use and degree of corporal punishment.
I am not sure what happens if school personnel is unable to reach the parent or guardian. I do know that they do not send home a consent form. If a parent doesn't want their child paddled, they must send a note to the school to be kept in the child's file.
My 8 year old is still in public school. My 10 year old goes to private this year and I haven't seen anything about paddling in that school's handbook. At the public school, there is a program called "Extra Mile", where a child is removed from the classroom for at least one day. They have a "teacher" (not sure if she is a teacher or an aide) with them at all times and their lunch is brought to them in that room.

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Most kids these days need a good whack on the butt every now and then. They have NO fear of authority because the parents let them run wild. The parents are too lazy to raise them resonsibly.
Not sure anyone has ever died from a good ole fashioned butt paddling.

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>>> "But beyond my own personal views about spanking, I think that giving another person -- especially another person that you may not know very well -- the right to hit your child at their discretion and outside of your prescence is sheer insanity."

I like the way you feign neutrality "beyond my personal view" as if you're about to give an objective statement and then give your personal view. Hilarious.

It was coming a mile off anyway: Hitting is not the same as spanking. It's like equating being burned alive with burning your finger on a match.

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