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Spanking in schools, why is this still allowed?

post #1 of 83
8/20/08 at 9:35pm
Thread Starter 
This is so crazy that kids are being "disciplined" by being hit at school.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/20/cor...ent/index.html

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post #2 of 83
8/20/08 at 10:15pm
Okay, my first reaction was "They still spank in schools?" but WOW.

Take a look at the interactive map -- it's sadly not surprising. When you mouse over a state, it tells you how many kids were spanked last year at school. Some states . . .
post #3 of 83
8/20/08 at 10:19pm
:


its legal in MY state!!!!!!!!!
post #4 of 83
8/20/08 at 10:47pm
what? thats illegal here i am pretty sure.

edit:

yup its illegal here

i thought it was illegal EVERYWHERE!
post #5 of 83
8/20/08 at 10:49pm
It varies by region. Unbefreakinglievable...
post #6 of 83
8/21/08 at 1:12am
Just a lurker, but I remember when corporal punishment was still legal in schools in CA. I remember being on In School Suspension in the 4th grade, where they sat me at a table across the hall from the principal's. A kid got spanked on one of the days I was sitting in the hall, and I still remember it 23 years later. Kind of traumatic, and I wasn't even the one getting spanked.
post #7 of 83
8/21/08 at 10:05am
Do they really?!
ETA: If my kids were in school and I found out they were being not only spanked but paddled, I'd be bending every single faculty member over and paddling them. :
post #8 of 83
8/21/08 at 12:55pm
Disgusting. So not only can parents physically assault a child, but I guess any adult in "authority" can.
post #9 of 83
8/21/08 at 1:01pm
I remember students getting the paddle in front of the rest of the class. I still remember the force and the "cracking" sound. I am still traumatized by it, and it wasnt me being hit. I cant believe this crap is still legal.

I am in PA, btw.
post #10 of 83
8/21/08 at 1:37pm
OMG. Over 18 thousand kids in my state got paddled last year. If there was any doubt in my mind that my ds is not going to go to public schools(which really, there wasn't), this resolves the question. I'm either homeschooling or doing Montessori or Waldorf....assuming that they don't paddle.

How can this even be legal? We're in the year 2008.....this makes me feel like we are not growing as a society, but regressing. How can so many people be in favor of this? It's really making me want to cry.

I too, remember being at hearing the resounding crack of the paddle on another kid's behind during my one year of Catholic private school in second grade. That image and sound will stay with me forever, and as the pp said, it wasn't even me. It still makes me shudder. There has to be some way to outlaw this. It really breaks my heart. :
post #11 of 83
8/21/08 at 2:46pm
Wow. Unreal. I'd freak out if my daughter were hit at school. And as a teacher here in Vancouver, I'm sure I would lose my job if I ever took a hand to a student -- and that's exactly as it should be.
post #12 of 83
8/21/08 at 3:18pm
I cannot believe this!!!!
I am sorry but if I found out that someone had hit my child with a paddle,I would be there in a heartbeat and I would wrap the paddle so hard around their head that the imprint would be there forever!! Sorry,not very GD I know but when it comes to protecting my kids,this animal just escapes from within!!
post #13 of 83
8/21/08 at 3:21pm
Until I saw that on the news, I had NO idea paddling was still going on in schools in ANY state. It's not allowed in my state, so I guess I assumed it wasn't allowed anywhere.
post #14 of 83
8/21/08 at 3:25pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by minimunklemama View Post
I cannot believe this!!!!
I am sorry but if I found out that someone had hit my child with a paddle,I would be there in a heartbeat and I would wrap the paddle so hard around their head that the imprint would be there forever!! Sorry,not very GD I know but when it comes to protecting my kids,this animal just escapes from within!!
Even in Texas, parents have to sign off on it.
post #15 of 83
8/21/08 at 3:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by glendora View Post
Even in Texas, parents have to sign off on it.
I wouldn't be 'signing off' on it!!! I would be telling them where to stick their signing sheet and high tailing it out of that state with my precious babes tucked under my arms,as quick as my little legs could carry me!!!

Thank god it is illegal in my state or we would be moving.TODAY!!!!!

I am just SO shocked that this still goes on.
post #16 of 83
8/21/08 at 3:54pm
In most cases, the parents do have the choice to "opt out", but unfortunately, most parents in those areas do not see any harm in it. Or, the school ignores it. Some schools will refuse to take inter-district transfer students if the parents try to opt out. In fact, some parents are like: you get in trouble at school, you are also in trouble at home. Sometimes, the child has the choice between getting paddled or suspended and chooses the momentary sting of the paddle to being suspended.

My eldest child has been paddled at school. Once. She straightened up after that and the lecture she got at home.
post #17 of 83
8/21/08 at 4:07pm
"Corporal punishment is not effective at the junior and senior high school levels, and I do not recommend its application," Dobson said on the organization's Web site.

"It can be useful for elementary students, especially with amateur clowns (as opposed to hard-core troublemakers). For this reason, I am opposed to abolishing spanking in elementary schools because we have systematically eliminated the tools with which teachers have traditionally backed up their word. We're now down to a precious few. Let's not go any further in that direction."

I think it's interesting that he supports hitting little kids, but not older ones. While he explains that in language about what "works," I've always suspected that the general attitude about this comes from the fact that an older kid is often strong enough to meaningfully fight back -- and even physically overcome their attacker.

(Yes, I consider such "discipline" to be physical assault.)
post #18 of 83
8/21/08 at 4:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2lilsweetfoxes View Post

My eldest child has been paddled at school. Once. She straightened up after that and the lecture she got at home.
You lectured her after she was paddled at school?
post #19 of 83
8/21/08 at 4:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by aaronsmom View Post
You lectured her after she was paddled at school?
I was in Korea at the time and she was living with her grandparents. Long story on that. She got a lecture (and her computer games taken away for a day, which is worse in her mind) for the misbehavior that led to the paddling.
post #20 of 83
8/21/08 at 4:28pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2lilsweetfoxes View Post
I was in Korea at the time and she was living with her grandparents. Long story on that. She got a lecture (and her computer games taken away for a day, which is worse in her mind) for the misbehavior that led to the paddling.
I don't agree with the paddling in the first place but I really don't understand why she'd get punished 3 times for the same thing (paddling, lecture, then games taken away).
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Mothering › Mothering Discussion Forums › Parenting › Gentle Discipline › Spanking in schools, why is this still allowed?