Spanking in schools, why is this still allowed?

[ButterSticks]

This is so crazy that kids are being "disciplined" by being hit at school.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/20/corporal.punishment/index.html

 

[Lilavati]

What's crazy to me is that at many schools teachers aren't even allowed to TOUCH the kids, and yet at other schools can spank them. I went to law school with a guy who worked as a teacher for a couple of years . . . he intervened in a fight between the students, which involved grabbing one of them. The parents sued for "physical abuse" and he got fired. Not only do I know this guy, and am certain he wouldn't hurt a fly, I now work with the lawyer who defended him. The child was not hurt, the grabbing was not inappropriate. The parents were fishing for money, and touching the children was against the rules. Oh, and then there's the parents who are dragged into court by CPS for spanking their children (not beating them, spanking them, see other threads here).

So, I have a friend that was sued for grabbing a kid (small child) to pull him out of a fight, parents have their children seized by CPS for spanking, and yet they are spanking kids in other schools. MAKE UP YOUR FREAKING MINDS, please.

That said, if I was a parent, I'd be pretty pissed about this. I think the decision to spank, or not, should be the parent's decision, NOT the schools.

 

[smkie]

No one had best ever touch child, they have a problem all the have to do is call me. If they do, it will be a reckoning no matter where she be.

 

[ACooper]

I wish OUR school system would spank kids!

Here is how I *wish* it would go down:

Little Johnny (or big Johnny as the case may be) is very naughty in school. He has been warned, he has lost his recess, he has been down to the principal to help make that phone call to his parents, and STILL he refuses to follow the rules.

He is obviously disrupting class and stopping the other children from their right to learn.

I think a paddling is in order BUT.....I feel the school should reach the parents and give them the opportunity to come in and be present for the paddling.

If they don't agree with the paddling, they can take little Johnny home. And they can take him home EVERYDAY this happens until they get tired of being called away from work to come down and get him. PERIOD.

I worked in our elementary school..........I have been called names that you would not believe by children all under the age of 12 I have broken up fist fights and nearly been punch myself.

YES, there are times when a child needs to be spanked. It's not even that the spanking should hurt them physically, it's more embarrassing than anything (coming from a kid that was paddled in school) and you definitely think twice about repeating it.

EDIT TO ADD: I forgot to mention that I ASKED our principal to paddle our son. The one who just turned 12 yesterday. He was being disruptive, he colored in marker ON THE CARPET, he poked and pushed kids next to him.......even got into a fight on the playground. We grounded him at home, took away privileges, Dad even swatted his butt, but it didn't work once he was AT the school. I asked them a few years ago to PLEASE bring him down to the office and give him a couple swats, I explained that with HIM it would be a good thing and show him there were immediate consequences to his actions...........the answer was NO. They do not believe in corporal <sp?> punishment.

So why did the teacher and other children of the class need to suffer because OUR son wouldn't behave in the classroom? I just don't think it's fair at all. I would have GLADLY come down and witnessed the paddling. AND I believe it would have done him a WORLD of good to know it could happen

 

[Gempress]

I live in one of those districts that are allowed to spank children. Frankly, I don't see the problem with it.

And I feel I should clarify. Just because they're allowed to spank children doesn't mean that they actually *do* it. While spanking was more common 10-15 years ago, it's now a last resort. Schools notify parents, do detentions, and other such things before they bring out the paddle. And it's not like it's a public flogging. It's often meted out by the principal or vice principal, in private.

 

[smkie]

IT stopped in my jr high when the coach swatted a friend of mine that had a heart condition. Want to know the result? NO one has the right to hit a child IMO...at the very least the parent should be consulted first.

 

[Dekka]

There needs to be some middle ground. I wouldn't stand to have someone spank my child. I don't go in for that sort of thing. AND Darien has had some nasty teachers, I couldn't imagine what would have happened had they been allowed to paddle him.

My opinion is that it is the same as dog training. IF you need to resort to force when training (not managment situations, training) then you have failed as a trainer/teacher. However we are social beings contact would be allowed. Grabbing a kid to break up a fight is totally within 'proper' use of contact IMO.

 

[Gempress]

My opinion is that it is the same as dog training. IF you need to resort to force when training (not managment situations, training) then you have failed as a trainer/teacher.

I don't agree. By that logic, almost all our past generations of humans are parental failures. Entire generations were raised on spanking.

The not-spanking idea is a very new one. It's probably only been around for a generation. That's why I don't understand why people say spanking is horrible and teaches a child to do bad things....and in the same breath, lament on how current society and its citizens are going downhill.

JMO, as always.

 

[Puckstop31]

Reason 2,239,257 we are going to home school Hannah and any other future children, at least until they get to High School age. No way is she going to be indoctinated into the "everybody is a winner" world. I mean, just look at how many kids there are who don't respect anything. WHY? NO BOUNDARIES and NO DISCIPLINE. I am not advocating beating kids or anything like that. But when discipline needs to be administered, DO IT.

Oh and getting sued for breaking up a fight? Give me a break. Why are there SO MANY lawyers out there? I know we need some, but do they even teach ethics anymore? Hell, LAWYERS are the reason the schools are the way they are. You can get sued for anything anymore.

What a joke.

 

[Angel Chicken]

Paddling is allowed in my county. Only if you sign the Corporal Punishment consent though.

I don't normally spank my children. They are well behaved, for the most part, and normally only needs a verbal correction, and maybe a time out/grounding.

However, I signed that consent. In all my years through school, I've NEVER heard of a child getting a spanking. But I want my boys to know (and trust me, they do), that if they choose to make bad choices at school, they can be punished for it. They are to behave at school, PERIOD.

 

[ACooper]

IT stopped in my jr high when the coach swatted a friend of mine that had a heart condition. Want to know the result? NO one has the right to hit a child IMO...at the very least the parent should be consulted first.

I absolutely agree that the parents should be contacted FIRST. If they don't agree with it, they can take the child home.........EVERY TIME. See how long it is before they suddenly agree with the swat

There needs to be some middle ground. I wouldn't stand to have someone spank my child. I don't go in for that sort of thing. AND Darien has had some nasty teachers, I couldn't imagine what would have happened had they been allowed to paddle him.

My opinion is that it is the same as dog training. IF you need to resort to force when training (not managment situations, training) then you have failed as a trainer/teacher. However we are social beings contact would be allowed. Grabbing a kid to break up a fight is totally within 'proper' use of contact IMO.

I don't think every teacher in the school needs to have the ability to spank your child. I think the principal (or acting principal) should be the one to do it AFTER contacting you and giving you the option to be present.

And I don't agree with children and dog training being the same. In some areas yes, but children DO have the ability to understand consequences of their actions differently than dogs..........PERIOD.

 

[Suzzie]

i hardly think home schooling is the answer to sheltering your children from real life.

 

[ACooper]

i hardly think home schooling is the answer to sheltering your children from real life.

Who decides what real life is? A bunch of teachers who don't love/care for your child the way you do? Or is it the students (other children), good, bad, and in between that decides what real life is?

Please enlighten me.

 

[smkie]

we do not hit our dogs to teach them to behave...why would we allow someone to use this same barbaric process on our children? DO you know how HARD that person is going to hit our child? Do you want your child to think it is OK for someone else to hurt them? THey can put them in the principles office and call me, i will be on my way. I promise my child would sweat that even more then a swat. As it is, my friend's heart rythm was disrupted which resulted in a hospital stay. The paddle had holes drilled through it to increase the speed and sting and was swung against him by a 250 lb ego maniac.

 

[Dekka]

I agree they are different. But a child can also learn the wrong things from it.

IE if someone isn't doing what you want-resort to violence. Its ok to hit others if you disagree.

If the child is smart enough to understand the consequences then explain them to him. Don't hit him. And the one school the principal was even worse than the teacher. Basically they told me my child was bad (he got suspended in grade one) and stupid. He was so stressed he was shutting down and not listening to them, instead of trying to help him they chose to punish him. We moved him schools and voila he is a good kid. Everywhere else he gets complimented.

This is a kid who had nightmares in grade one about failing school!! Can you imagine what it would have done to him if they had spanked him too?!?!

 

[ButterSticks]

i hardly think home schooling is the answer to sheltering your children from real life.

In "real life" people aren't allowed to hit each other.

 

[ACooper]

My son in question, the 12 year old I requested get a paddle at school??...........ya, he is OVER THE TOP smart. He needs to be in EVERY enrichment class they offer, and he always PASS+ the state achievement testing. They really don't do enough to keep him occupied. BUT, that is the way it is and he needs to understand he can't disrupt everyone else just because things are easy for him and he gets done so quickly.

Moving him up a grade is not an option because he is VERY tiny to begin with (only 5 lbs bigger than his 8 year old brother)............he needs to learn self control, and talking to him or grounding him DOES NOT WORK.

 

[Lilavati]

Oh and getting sued for breaking up a fight? Give me a break. Why are there SO MANY lawyers out there? I know we need some, but do they even teach ethics anymore? Hell, LAWYERS are the reason the schools are the way they are. You can get sued for anything anymore.

What a joke.

Pardon me, but speaking as an attorney, I am really, really tired of the entire profession being smeared by a minority of sleazy, money-grubbing scumbags that we hate even more than the rest of society. MOST lawyers, and by that I mean more than 90%, probably more like 95%, do things like what I do. Not energy regulation per se, but things you never see, and help keep society running.

Even most plaintiffs lawyers only take cases where there is a legitimate gripe. Many of us DEFEND against this sort of crap. My collegue, who defended my law school classmate (this is all a coincidence that I know them both) did so for free, because he thought the whole thing was stupid and unfair. Even when we do things like tell the school to take the gym set out, most lawyers are doing it to protect our clients from the scumbags . . . its not like we really WANT them to do it, we just have to tell them that.

We were once a respected profession. Most of us are still perfectly respectable. So please don't blame lawyers, catagorically, for this. Blame greedy, sleazy plaintiffs attorneys and tacky, greedy parents.

 

[Maxy24]

I don't think I agree with hitting kids. In one aspect I think it teaches kids to deal with people that upset them by hitting them. Then I think about what would happen to me if I were hit in school. As it is I'm shy as can be and rarely raise my hand to answer questions for fear of being wrong, I have very little self esteem. If I were hit I would completely shut down. BUT that brings up the question of if I would ever be bad enough to be hit because if a teacher so much as talks to me about bad grades/behavior I'm on the verge of tears, so if given a good amount of warnings etc. someone like me would probably never get hit. Perhaps because of the consequences that happen before getting hit only those who NEED the hitting will get it. So I don't know how I feel. You are teaching kids to behave because they are scared not to, not because they should out of respect/morals. I guess that is what bothers me, but I suppose if the parents want their kids listening out of fear then they can allow their kids to be hit by other people. I also don't like it so much because I've seen kids who would deserve a beating in one class be a total saint in another because of the teacher. In one class the teacher constantly threatens to send kids to the office and he WHINES like crazy about their behaviors, no one listens to him, he does not act like someone who deserves respect. In the other class if you misbehave the teacher acts completely shocked and disgusted (but in a serious way) that such a behavior is coming out of a high school student and he never threatened to do anything to any one. Everyone listens to and respects him, we don't WANT to upset/disappointed him because we really like him. So I KNOW these kids would respond well if the teacher was actually good at his job, but I guess we can't do anything about teachers so the kids have to pay. JMO as a high school kid, if I had children I might feel a little different.

 

[HoundedByHounds]

I wish ours would do it...then our teachers here might not have to CARRY GUNS TO SCHOOL like they will be starting to now.