Corporal Punishment in Schools

The September 1997 issue of Child Magazine has a lengthy article about corporal punishment, spanking, in schools. Living in California where such behavior is strictly forbidden, I was under the mis-impression that corporal punishment in schools was outlawed by the Federal Government. However, according to the article, only 21 states have completely outlawed corporal punishment, 6 others have restricted it, but there are 23 states who are apparantly far behind the times in protecting children by securing their rights to attend school without the threat of being spanked by a teacher, principal, or other school official.

As a child care provider, I am certain that I have never faced the time that the children under my care 'needed' to be spanked - and I would state with great conviction that I don't know of anyone who allows their child care providers to hit their children for transgressions. Nor do I know of any police officers who would not immediately arrest a person for assaulting a child. How, then, can we allow school districts in 23 states nationwide to employ such techniques?

Note:A visitor to Life With Nanny was kind enough to send me an e-mail to let me know how Rhode Island's school district deals with corporal punishment being legally 'restricted' in usage.

Viewer's comment:

For your information, while Rhode Island has no law outlawing corporal punishment in school, it is banned in virtually all school districts by school committee policy. In RI, if a teacher were to so hit a student,
they could have charges brought against them for battery. I cannot recall a single incident of paddling in a Rhode Island public school during the last 50 years.

My response:

The policy that Rhode Island's school districts have adopted are shoring up the lack of any effective policy by the state in itself, and proves (at least to me) that there is a general consensus out there that corporal punishment in school is an obvious abuse of power.

My concern in the long run: If we have officials who are governing the whole state's policies and setting a tone that allows such behavior as corporal punishment in public institutions, we are running a great risk.

It is admirable that all of Rhode Island's school districts have joined together to make certain that this barbaric practice is banned, but they shouldn't have to be making up for a lack of effective policy by those who run the government. - Nor, in the whole picture, should the individual states have to try to shore up the lack of action by the Federal Government.

Let it be known that I find no fault with those schools and school districts that make individual policies banning such violent practices. Nor am I finding fault with any principal, teacher or other person who works in a system that allows (even if only as a technicality) corporal punishment.

The fault lies in those individuals who have the power to make a difference by outlawing the practice, but don't care to, for one excuse or the next. It lies in those individuals who choose to employ such methods, and there are many out there who do.

Our main goal here at Life With Nanny is to provide information to parents and providers with as much accuracy as possible so that they can make the best decisions for their precious children.

Following is a list of states that allow corporal punishment, restricted or unrestricted, and those who have outlawed it.

I have linked the home pages of each state's governor to this site. From those sites, you will have access to the e-mail address of each state's governor. I urge all visitors to let your feelings on this matter be known to the authorities who are doing nothing about changing these archiac laws.

OUTLAWED:

RESTRICTED USE:

UNRESTRICTED USE:

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