Should Principals /Administrators be allowed to paddle students? Perhaps parents remember going to the principal’s office and being paddled. Gagnon, Kennedy-Lewis, & Gurel (2014) explained the choice whether to use corporal punishment is determined by either district-level administrators or the principal, even if districts grant this authority (pg. 1). This form of discipline is called ‘corporal punishment.’ Discipline ascribes to experience and instruction to strengthen one’s moral compass and mental capacity. Additionally, discipline references to the control achieved by involving obedience which connects to consistent and orderly behavior represented by rules and codes established in the United States Constitution.
It provides guidelines that encompass Federal, State, and local guidelines within public and private schools. As evidence, federal databases collect information from the Office of Civil Rights whose acronym is OCR, which is part of the United States Department of Education. A census of all public schools, as well as Charters, view the number of students reported who received corporal punishment as a form of discipline. In the landmark case Ingraham v. Wright 430 U.S. 651, USA Education Law (n.d.) explained, in 1977, Dade County, “students in Florida challenged the constitutionality of corporal punishment at their school under the Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause be self-imposed” (para. 2).
The Florida Supreme Court ruled that spanking did not violate students’ rights and remained legal after that more than two decades (para. 1). Since this landmark case, corporal punishment has neither favored parents or students. There are specific strategies for student discipline. For instance, restorative justice that engages the student rather than an abstract punishment for misbehavior. First, the student performs something that makes it up to their presumable victims. Further, causing noise in class and making it increasingly difficult for their classmates to learn. The student may write an apology, or perhaps read to little children to drive home the consequences of the acts committed.
Unquestionably, there are ways to practice student discipline within public and private schools, however, to avoid future liability claims, schools and school districts should reason a more comprehensive plan of student discipline by continuous training. By doing this, better safeguards against potential lawsuits and claims in the future may create change agents for future success.
References:
Gagnon, J.C., Kennedy-Lewis, B.L., & Gurel, S. (2014). Corporal Punishment in Florida
Schools: Trends in Reactive, Punitive, and Ineffective Approaches to Youth
Behavior. Retrieved from www.scribd.com/document.
(Image in blog post)- http://menamgov.blogspot.com.es/2012/09/they-are-still-paddling-in-texas.html
T,
In your blog, you mentioned corporal punishment to be a mode to, “Strengthen moral compass and mental capacity.” If a moral compass is one’s ability to judge what is right and wrong and act accordingly, how then is hitting a way to display what is right? Parents who hit their children because the child hit a peer is only teaching the guilty that hitting is the way to gain control and obedience. In the early years of life, we are taught to communicate with our words, not our hands. When did this lesson change to using our hands and not our words to communicate? In my opinion, administrators who use corporal punishment as a tool to gain control are a providing a disservice to children. According to Turner and Finkelhor, side effects of corporal punishment include aggression, depression, anxiety, and negative social interactions (Turner, Finkelhor, 1996). Klein explains a proper approach to raising children with a strong moral compass:
Loving, everyday interactions are the beginning of raising moral children. We know the terrible legacy that abuse can have on the development of a child. Children who have suffered from abuse are more likely to be abusive and violent as adults. They are more likely to find themselves in abusive relationships. Seeing and experiencing abuse shows the child one-way people behave towards each other (Helen, 2002).
As educators, we have the responsibility to teach the whole child. Developing their moral compass through everyday, loving interactions is part of our responsibility.
Helen, A. K. (2002). A moral compass. Childhood Education, 78(4), 236-237. Retrieved from http://lynn-lang.student.lynn.edu:2048/login?url=https://lynn-lang.student.lynn.edu:2420/docview/210385710?accountid=36334
Turner, H. A., & Finkelhor, D. (1996). Corporal punishment as a stressor among youth. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58(1), 155. Retrieved from http://lynn-lang.student.lynn.edu:2048/login?url=https://lynn-lang.student.lynn.edu:2420/docview/219748015?accountid=36334
It’s mind blowing that this is still allowed in schools across the country. We need to protect our students, and education system. Safeguards should be in place to provide a better environment for students, without leaving an open door for harm. I do believe this will be fixed in the upcoming years, we have to hope.
T,
Your blog was perceptive. Discipline in schools is definitely becoming a more and more sensitive issue. It is something to think about when it comes to corporal punishment. My mother and her siblings went to school where corporal punishment was used. In her country (Haiti), it still exists. It exists in many other countries as well including the Bahamas. (http://time.com/3629958/only-one-english-speaking-country-has-outlawed-spanking/)
I have never really experienced corporal punishment myself aside from going to the corner as a form of punishment which too is banned many places and seen as a cruel punishment.
Florida hasn’t banned corporal punishment but I have not seen it and many educators fear the liability anyway. It’s hard to believe that it’s actually still going on. I am not for corporal punishment in schools by any means but I also feel discipline in schools is weak. Detentions and referrals are not as effective as they used to be. It is hard to effectively discipline students when teachers and parents aren’t on the same side.
I am a firm believer that discipline begins in the home and carries into the classroom. We need to go back to the “Yes ma’am/sir” era, where respect was given and punishment was not necessary.