No hitting in the classroom, Chapel Hill News (06.01.2011)
April was National Child Abuse Prevention Month. While attention usually focuses on abuse in the home, it is equally important to address abuse in the setting where children spend approximately one quarter of their day – school.
North Carolina is one of 20 states that permits spanking and hitting as a means of discipline in schools. Eighteen of the 115 local school districts allow corporal punishment. Data from Action for Children North Carolina indicates that during the 2009-10 school year, 689 North Carolinian students received some form of corporal punishment.
While discipline represents a challenge in schools, spanking and hitting are not the means by which administrators and teachers should address this issue.
Beginning in pre-school, children are taught to use words rather than hands to handle their anger toward fellow students. What sort of example do teachers set when they deal with unruly children through the use of corporal punishment? This double standard undermines previous teachings, normalizes the use of hitting as an acceptable form of discipline, and promotes pro-violence attitudes among children. Teachers must lead by example and educate children to use more appropriate techniques to deal with anger and frustration.
There is no evidence demonstrating that hitting and spanking lead to improved classroom control, increased respect for teachers, or less unruly behavior. In fact, corporal punishment can be potentially damaging to young and developing children, not only in terms of physical well-being but also regarding children’s emotional stability.
Proponents of corporal punishment argue that spanking and hitting children represent a fast and efficient manner for teachers to discipline. Little classroom time is wasted, and no additional money must be spent on after-school detention. While this is indeed true, simply receiving a spanking teaches children very little, if anything, about the reasons for their punishment or why their actions are wrong.
To better learn from their mistakes and improve upon future behavior, children must spend more time discussing, thinking, and learning about the inappropriateness of their actions.
Many other choices exist. Teachers and school administrators should turn to time-outs, extra schoolwork, counseling, or eliminating special privileges.
They should also apply the Positive Behavior Support program, a system of discipline endorsed by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the State Board of Education that identifies behavioral problems and establishes goals and steps for change. Teachers need to establish firm limits and rules and have reasonable expectations at the onset of the school year. Teachers should also use positive reinforcement and encouragement.
Replacing corporal punishment with more appropriate forms of discipline will not only promote better control and behavior, but also help teach our children appropriate ways to manage and handle anger and frustration.
Whitney Mudd is a second-year medical student at UNC.