Decline in corporal punishment looks good, Hickory Record (10.03.2011)
Action for Children, a Raleigh-based organization, has released a study showing corporal punishment is declining in North Carolina’s public schools.
That’s a good trend. There is no place for corporal punishment in public schools. None of the three school systems in Catawba County allow paddling or any form of physical retribution. Caldwell and Burke county schools systems are addressing the issue this school year.
Physical punishment for breaking the rules is not used in the workplace or in prison. It’s an outmoded form of discipline that is not supported by hard evidence that paddling positively affects attitude.
We do not intend to tell parents how to discipline their children, but school is a place where our kids learn how to get along with others and exist in the adult environment that becomes theirs all too soon. We do not see any redemptive value in school-inflicted corporal punishment.
Actions have consequences, and misconduct in school should result in punishment. But we have ways of influencing and educating our children without resorting to physical violence, no matter how mild.
If a student violates weapons or drug policies, law enforcement enters the picture. But officers don’t haul away students to paddle them. No, the consequences are more severe than an old-fashioned whipping in many instances.
Many parents use corporal punishment to get their kids’ attention and reinforce the rules. We will not argue with their methods. We will demand intervention if parents injure their children in the name of discipline.
We think state government is right in not looking to ban corporal punishment in public schools with a law. We hope all North Carolina school systems will stop the practice of corporal punishment. It’s better, although sometimes more difficult, to affect a student’s conduct with punishment predicated on positive reinforcement than to paddle them and conclude the problem is solved.
The study showing a dramatic drop in North Carolina is a strong indicator that corporal punishment may soon be abandoned by all our public schools.
“Corporal Punishment in Public Schools: A Practice on the Decline” can be seen at www.ncchild.org.