Unjustified Corporal Punishment

Kelsey Schuler

Proposal Essay

ENGL-1020

November 23, 2011

Unjustified Corporal Punishment

In about 23 states in America, schools are the only public institution where hitting, spanking or paddling another person is legally sanctioned under the conditions of discipline (American Board Journal). Corporal punishment, another term generalizing acts of spanking or paddling together has been part of the nation’s schooling and under the human rights law since schoolhouses were built according to TIME Magazine in 2010. “There is no comprehensive definition of corporal punishment under U.S. state or federal law”; however, the Human Rights Watch “documented cases of corporal punishment inside classrooms and it includes hitting children with a belt, a ruler, a set of rulers taped together; pinching, slapping, grabbing children around the arm, neck or elsewhere with enough force to bruise; throwing children to the floor; slamming child into a wall; dragging children across floors; and bruising or otherwise injuring children in the course of restraint” (Stephey, 2009). Also in the 2006-2007 academic school year about a quarter of a million children were administered to corporal punishment (Stephey, 2009). With corporal punishment being used as a frequent disciplinary option for teachers in over 23 states, it is affecting the behavior problems and future learning abilities of children; even though there is no simple solution in how to influence these 23 states, corporal punishment should be abolished from classrooms nationwide.

The striking opposition against corporal punishment in schools first appeared in the Supreme Court case Ingraham v. Wright in 1977. Ingraham v. Wright argued that the eighth amendment based around cruel and unusual punishment should be applied to corporal punishment in the classroom; however, the outcome of the court case was that cruel and unusual punishment only applies to criminals and not students (New York Times, 2001). Since the 1977 court case, over 23 states have abolished corporal punishment from their states’ classrooms. So though corporal punishment is not under consideration of cruel and unusual punishment, recent studies shown by social workers and psychologists explain that there are extreme detrimental outcomes on children who were spanked whether it was frequently or not, it overall is affecting the behavioral outcomes of children and making them more aggressive (Park, 2010).

The educators, who have to cooperate with the deviant kids of the classroom, believe it is a necessary disciplinary technique. One Mississippi school principal, Alex Fischer who allows corporal punishment in her classrooms, says she disagrees with the outcome of more aggressive children (CNN News, 2010). She mentioned that there is consistency in who gets spanked and who doesn’t get spanked; those who get spanked know better than to act out again for the consequence/possibility in getting spanked again, therefore the outcome of aggressive behavior is not really an option. As well as, spanking is not always the solution they use for disobedient children, it just is an option. Therefore, why would a teacher have to take away class time from other students, to talk through a problem with those who are acting out, especially when corporal punishment is rare in classrooms?

The only conclusion to why this argument is used from Alex Fischer’s perspective is because she is not informed completely of the long-term effects of spanking and how spanking children in front of a classroom or behind closed doors with an administrator can be recognized as an act of humiliation. An inconsistent mental state can come from the humiliation and shame from forcing a child to bend over and receive a spanking from his or her teacher, especially when it takes place in front of the whole class (Developing Person: Through Childhood). A small amount of humiliation breaks down a child’s psychological defenses creating them to act out into more aggressive anger and rebellion and for some children having a result of depression and anxiety (Developing Person: Through Childhood). By constantly reinforcing corporal punishment, it is a large amount of failure from the teacher’s lack of cooperative disciplinary action. By giving a teacher the choice to spank a child or talk through the problem with them one on one, over one third of teachers who apply corporal punishment in their classrooms concluded that they would go straight for the paddle rather than confronting the problem overall, one school in Alabama remarked (TIME ,2009). By quickly enforcing violence over talking through a problem with a child, portrays to a vulnerable child that violence is sometimes ok, making a possible increase in aggression problems.

As for more current updates in 2001 Bush established a Teacher Protection Act that protects teachers from being liable for students who go against classroom authority and corporal punishment is used as their disciplinary action (New York Times, 2001).Though the teachers are protected under this act, many parents in these legal corporal punishment states have had several problems in instituting that they do not want their son or daughter spanked or paddled by another authority even if they were out of control and disturbing the peace of the classroom. Some parent’s complaints are based around their belief that they should be the key authority figure to discipline their child, not the school teacher’s; however, the school teacher’s may argue that the parents need to step up to the plate and start disciplining their child and then corporal punishment in school’s would not be looked at as such an extreme problem.

In the small Texas town right outside Fort Hood, they reinstated corporal punishment in their classrooms at Temple High School about a year ago (Winter, 2010). This particular Texas town believed that the dismissal of corporal punishment from classrooms influenced the teenagers and children in the wrong direction in neglecting their core values that the town represents as a whole (Winter, 2010). By reinstating corporal punishment into classrooms this Texas town believes that the children are headed in the right direction away from mischievous behavior and sticking to what they believe is best, which is their faith. Since the re-establishment of corporal punishment in classrooms children have been attending church more frequently and Temple High School’s academic standings have been increasing (Winter, 2010).

The success of Temple High School’s improvement in their small town is remarkable; however, when comparing more diverse city state schools to small town schools, the induction of corporal punishment on these students is not as promising. As well the inconsistencies and confusion that corporal punishment brings to children does more harm than good. Corporal punishment taking place both in classrooms and households sends mixed messages to children in redefining who the ultimate discipliner should be in their life as a combat between teacher and parent. As for some children it diminishes the value of punishments they receive at home according to psychologist Anna King (Time, 2010). Therefore if corporal punishment is going to take place in any situation it should be in a household setting with the main discipliner being the parent rather than the teacher, for it guides the child to obey the parent’s authority throughout life and it is under the parent’s control to decide if they want to spank their child or not, not the school district.

Though there are many battles and words to be used in discussion of why corporal punishment should or should not be allowed in classrooms, in the end, corporal punishment increases aggressive behavior problems in children and is an act of humiliation, so it should be dismissed from classrooms nationwide. The plan to abolish corporal punishment would occur across the school districts of the 23 states that still mandate corporal punishment. The reason for this, is as a nation the states with the larger acceptance of corporal punishment have the greater effects expected upon their children versus the states against it, because of the actions being performed by their states, school teachers and households. So the goal to inform these 23 states and their school districts about the behavioral outcomes of children who are spanked or paddled is a solution to spread the word to help corporal punishment not to be known as a disciplinary solution. Also, due to Bush’s Teacher Protection Act whether corporal punishment is abolished from particular school districts it still allows teachers the opportunity to spank without being completely liable for their actions. Therefore editing or dismissing the Teacher Protection Act as a whole prevents teachers from disobeying the school district and nation’s new policy against corporal punishment. Though this can truly affect the teachers of this nation and the outcome of their jobs, this is a time for the corporal punishment school district teachers to own up to their lack of disciplinary cooperativeness and having consequences for their hostile disciplinary techniques. Without implementing harsh circumstances only allows corporal punishment to be viewed as a petty problem that will continuously keep affecting the aggression outcome of children, whether anyone wants to believe it or not.

The beginning step in the objective to dismiss corporal punishment as a disciplinary method used in this nation’s classrooms is by confronting the 23 states school district superintendants that still practice and allow corporal punishment in their school systems (Abramson, 2007). By confronting the key authority figure, such as the superintendant allows your argument to be heard and possibly enforced. When confronting the superintendants there will need to be large amounts of information providing why corporal punishment should be eliminated and why it is a crucial problem. This would be the time in mentioning the damaging behavior outcomes spanking/paddling has on children and how corporal punishment can affect the learning abilities of children in a variety of different ways. Though a superintendant hearing the negative learning and behavioral outcomes of children is a strong enough stance, there will need to be research done on particular school systems and their particular demographics of how to implement certain disciplinary techniques inside their school in comparison to other school systems.

For example, the majority of corporal punishment schools are in low income areas where it is difficult for them to have a full staff that can manage other disciplinary options like detention before, after or during school (Abramson, 2007). Also, providing payment for teachers for those longer hours enforced must be acknowledged. So the predicament of where this financial money will come from could be a possibly problem that is why it is key to spread the word of why corporal punishment is a problem for it comes to the attention of school districts to try their best to budget their money differently. Redistributing the budget can help school districts think twice in incorporating more disciplinary guidelines, that may not even cost more money or teachers. Schools should realize that options such as time-outs, detention, suspension and reward systems for those who perform good behavior versus those who perform bad behavior are five times more effective disciplinary techniques then spanking and paddling (CNN News). By instituting time-outs or detention in place of spanking a child it shows the children that there are still consequences for their actions; however, the long term outcomes will not be detrimental to their future. According to American Academy of Pediatrics, spanking is a form of punishment that becomes less effective with repeated use, it only makes discipline more difficult as the child outgrows spanking. So why make the teachers jobs more stressful for those who teach the older generations in school who have to deal with the more aggressive behavior that throughout time becomes more difficult to discipline? The earlier one begins in preventing spanking the better the behavioral outcomes of the child and the easier learning and disciplining will become.

As for taking into consideration Bush’s 2001 Teacher Protection Act that does not hold teachers liable under those circumstances when they use corporal punishment should be edited or abolished completely. This act influences the schools in the 23 states to believe that corporal punishment is substantial and productive when in fact it is not. Similar to before, by informing the superintendants about the long term effects of spanking, one could ask the superintendent to use their school board meetings as a time to inform and persuade parents and other school authority representatives about why corporal punishment is a problem. Many parents in several corporal punishment states have been continuously arguing about how it should be their decision to decide if they want their son or daughter to be spanked, not a school district. To make the parents happy and the school districts to knock off one of their many problems would be best to petition the Teacher Protection Act to be edited to the point that should hold teachers liable under the circumstances of corporal punishment. This could upset teachers in believing their rights are taken away and believing that more responsibility is held upon them, but drastic measures must be taken because of unfortunate circumstances of the outcomes of corporal punishment. Therefore a petition that passes through these school districts superintendants is all they need for the districts to decide whether or not they will ban corporal punishment from their schools systems and put proper disciplinary programs in place.

Though aggression problems are increasing in children who are under corporal punishment, overall it will be difficult to eliminate corporal punishment as a whole because it is still being implemented in all households and 23 states across the nation. Unfortunately corporal punishment is a domino effect: once one child is spanked or paddled the possibility of them being spanked again is high and it becomes a larger likelihood of them spanking their children in the future. So the best place to end this epidemic of corporal punishment is first in the nation’s classrooms. By applying that corporal punishment should be banned nationwide sends a message across, that it does more harm than good especially as it affects the learning and behavior results of the children. Without recognizing how schools are teaching children through certain disciplinary techniques that many object to, makes others wonder what else is not known about the nation’s schools and what is occurring inside schools that we do not know about? So by discovering that corporal punishment is not a beneficial disciplinary technique as it once was viewed, and recognizing that there are more repercussions to physically disciplining a child, is the first step in identifying that corporal punishment needs to be abolished from classrooms nationwide because it does more harm than good.

As for taking into consideration the other perspective, corporal punishment is occurring in schools because school teachers feel it is necessary to teach a child in all aspects and that includes discipline. School teachers believe that they are spanking children because they are not being disciplined at home. Without proper discipline they believe these children or teenagers will be led further in the wrong direction besides just having an aggression problem. These teens or children that do not partake in corporal punishment at home or at school or in any form of disciplinary action have a larger likelihood in experimenting with drugs at an earlier age. Therefore, there is a discipline problem in this nation where parents are not taking proper precautions in disciplining their children and school teachers are reaching extremes to cover the parent’s lack of disciplinary action. Therefore, this nation’s schools and households need to be corrected in the area of discipline and one of the possible first steps is dismissing corporal punishment. Though this may be irrational and could possibly force some children or teenagers in the wrong direction towards drugs and alcohol, their needs to be limitations in using forceful action on a child and an influence of different disciplinary techniques in place of this physical cruelty.

Work Cited

Abramson, Paul. "Putting a Lock on Students." School Planning & Management Jan. 2007: 98. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Nov. 2011.

Berger, Kathleen Stassen. “Developing Person: Through Childhood.” Boston, MA: Pearson, 2008. P.210- 216.

CNN News. “More than 200,000 kids spanked at school.” CNN U.S. 28 Aug. 2009. http://articles.cnn.com/2008-08-20/us/corporal.punishment_1_corporal-punishment-students- children-spanked-us-schools/2?_s=PM:US

Ferraro, Paul and Joan Rudel Weinreich. "Unprotected in the Classroom." American School Board Journal 193.11 (2008): 40-42. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 11 Apr. 2011

National Association of School Psychologist. “Position Statement on Corporal Punishment in Schools”

2006: http://www.nasponline.org/about_nasp/pospaper_corppunish.aspx

Park, Alice “Long Term Effects of Spanking.” Time. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 3 May 2010.

Stephey, M.J. “Corporal Punishment in U.S. Schools.” Time 135.8 (2009) 44-50. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 12 Aug. 2009.

Winter, Michael. “Texas town enrolls the paddle to teach unruly students a lesson.” USA Today. 16 April 2010. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/04/a-texas-town-enrolls-the-paddle-to-teach-students-a-lesson/1

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1915820,00.html

http://www.nsba.org/SchoolLaw/Issues/Legal/TeacherLiabilityProtectionAct.txt