Corporal Punishment Has to Stop

Insights from Educate, 16th Edition

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I am sure many of you were just as appalled as I was when this video was released of a Florida principal paddling a young child, while her mother secretly filmed it no less.

Using a paddle to discipline a student is referred to as corporal punishment and is surprisingly legal in 19 states. F. Chris Curran, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Florida, writes:

“In the 2015–2016 school year, more than 92,000 public school students were paddled or spanked at the hands of school personnel, with most of these incidents concentrated in fewer than 10 states, mostly in the South.”

I attended and graduated high school from a very small town in Alabama, where disciplinary paddling was the norm. I regularly watched as students, especially boys, were pulled out of class to be paddled for various offenses. At the time, I had no idea that this was considered abnormal in most parts of the country. In the deep south, parents left teachers and admin to discipline their children as they saw fit.

Despite my experiences, I am just as surprised as many of you to learn that corporal punishment is still in use today. Professor Curran notes that the continued use of paddling is contentious as most school decisions are left to local school boards. He writes: “Unfortunately, research suggests that this deference to local decisions to use corporal punishment is harmful for students.” State governments are reluctant to wade into issues that they feel are best left to local communities to solve.

Existing research on the impact of corporal punishment reveals, unsurprisingly, that this practice targets mostly boys and students of color. Many organizations recommend the banning of corporal punishment, but the U.S. has not yet banned this practice, even though at least 100 other countries have.

Policy experts and educational leaders recognize restorative practices and positive behavior interventions as alternatives to corporal punishment. Rarely do children learn how to behave by avoiding physical harm. Involving students in discussions and methods that help students…