Recently the Cassville R-IV School District in Missouri instituted corporal punishment (the use of physical force to discipline students). Although its policy states that spanking and paddling “shall be used only when all other alternative means of discipline have failed, and then only in reasonable form,” this practice is utterly immoral and ineffective.
Corporal punishment is wrong for a number of reasons, mainly because the negative impacts on mental health are staggering. According to the World Health Organization, corporal punishment causes high hormonal activity in response to stress and an increase in neural activity pathways for anger. Anxiety disorders, depression, decrease in self-esteem, drug use, and acceptance of violence and aggression all become more likely among victims of corporal punishment.
This form of discipline leads to a cycle of misbehavior, aggression, and violence. It actually increases the severity and likelihood of the behavior that prompted corporal punishment in the first place. Jericho High School psychologist Dr. Goldstein said, “Research shows that children who have been physically abused or assaulted are more likely to physically assault or abuse in the future.”
Dr. Goldstein prefers restorative practices used in the Jericho Public School District as a means of student discipline. She said, “I believe in restorative practice which we use here in Jericho, which is teaching the students to learn from their behavior by pointing out how it affects themselves and others as a learning lesson.”
Restorative practices are learning experiences using positive reinforcement, either rewarding students for good behavior or organizing restorative circles in which students participate to improve their behaviors.
Despite the many negative repercussions of corporal punishment and the availability of nonviolent methods, paddling and spanking have been common practices around the world and are still practiced in the U.S. today. Corporal punishment dramatically decreased in the United States following New Jersey’s decision to ban it in 1867, causing many states to join in on the trend. In 1977, the Supreme Court case Ingraham v. Wright decided that corporal punishment in public schools was constitutional and that states had the power to determine whether it would be permitted in their public schools.
Nineteen states currently allow and practice corporal punishment. According to the Department of Education, about 69,000 students were struck during the 2017-2018 school year in the United States. Missouri was responsible for almost 2,500 of these students.
Missouri’s Cassville R-IV School District policy limits corporal punishment to certain conditions. The official policy states that to execute spanking or paddling, a teacher must obtain permission from the principal and the student’s parents. If approval is granted, students cannot be struck on the “head or face” and punishment cannot result in “bodily injury or harm.”
How does one measure injury or harm? The goal of the policy is to inflict pain, and pain of this kind in a school setting will always cause harm.
Yet the most concerning detail of this policy is that it was approved after the majority of the district’s parents agreed with the conditions in an anonymous survey. The fact that parents allow this is alarming.
In a JerEcho student survey, 88.5% of respondants disagree that corporal punishment should be allowed in schools. Surprisingly, this number decreased to 75.9% if parental permission was previously granted.
Seventeen percent of JHS respondants believe that there can be situations when corporal punishment is justifiable.
Psychologist and JHS parent Pam Wasserman has concerns about the ineffectiveness of corporal punishment whether used in schools or at home. She said, “Spanking causes a sense of powerlessness. Kids feel unheard. It’s like they’re shut down. And then it escalates. It’s like, ‘How much force are you supposed to use when you spank?’ and ‘What happens when the spank doesn’t work and it causes an escalation of violence in these kids?’”
She added, “The effects later could increase aggressiveness, hostility, and it repeats the intergenerational cycle of spanking. So kids who are hit grow up to hit their own kid.”
Ultimately, spanking and paddling inside or outside of schools are far more likely to create further misbehavior, trauma, violence, and a cycle of corporal punishment than result in any positive change in behavior. School districts such as Cassville and the parents who approve of this discipline policy endanger future generations.
The sentiments of Ms. Wasserman summarize these concerns. “I think it destroys a soul. It destroys their sense of wellbeing.”
This is unbelievable. I had no idea that corporal punishment was still being implemented in schools in the US. Thank you for shining a light on this unacceptable behavior.