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Home > Blogs > Springfield Schools News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > November > 11
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Did sparing the rod spoil the schools?
At the close of last night’s Coalition for Justice and Equality meeting, Elder Garfield Parker made a comment on one of the concerns raised by the survey they had conducted: discipline.
“How are they supposed to bring discipline back to the schools without corporal punishment?” he asked after an apologetic and hesitant start to the question.
He told the story of one of his math teachers who “tore up (his) behind” and after that he was a straight A student in the subject.
Schools have an array of discipline options now: in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, detention, expulsion, suspending a teen’s driver’s license, suspending a student from extracurricular activities, etc.
Under Ohio law, schools are still allowed to use paddling as a form of punishment.
Yes, corporal punishment is still legal in Ohio, although most schools have a policy that does not allow it to be used. A bill was introduced last year to ban paddling but it hasn’t been acted on since May when it was in a community.
Actually it’s still legal in several states and more than 200,000 kids were paddled in school last year.
This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this question, particularly from the generation that want to schools when paddling was a popular form of punishment. I’ve heard from some older family members, co-workers and friends that it was an effective method for them.
I am not part of that generation, but I remember that my first grade teacher had a frilly paddle hanging in the classroom.
I’ve heard educators lament discipline problems that stem from the home where rules are not enforced and then those issues carry over into the schools and question how to enforce rules without the support of parents.
Should schools use corporal punishment? What alternatives do you think would help with discipline?
