(primary
source: National Coalition to Abolish Corporal Punishment in Schools, Columbus,
OH (www.stophitting.com/disatschool/))
The more spankings children experience, the
greater the likelihood that they will engage in aggression and other
anti-social behavior.
Study reported in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, August 1997 by Murray A. Straus, David B. Sugarman, and Jean Giles-Sims
Injuries occur. Bruises are common.
Broken bones, nerve and muscle damage are not unusual. An estimated 1% to 2% of all recipients of school
corporal punishment require medical evaluation and treatment for injuries resulting
from the punishment*. Brain injury and
even death has occurred in the U.S. due to school corporal punishment. Educators and school boards are sometimes
sued.
*”Corporal
Punishment in the Schools”. Transcript
of the hearing before the Juvenile Justice Committee on the Judiciary, U.S.
Senate. October 17, 1984
Corporal Punishment is used more often on
poor children, minorities, children with disabilities and males.
U.S. Department
of Education, Office for Civil Rights Elementary and Secondary School Civil
Rights Compliance Report, Fall 1998
Only 22 of our states permit adults in the
public schools to intentionally hit and hurt minor children. Arkansas has failed to do anything to
restrict the people who inflict this mistreatment in our schools.
The National Coalition to Abolish Corporal
Punishment in Schools (www.stophitting.com/disatschool/)
actively enlists organizations in the campaign: “Despite calls for its
elimination is this country by such mainline national organizations as the
American Medical and Bar Associations, the NAACP, the American Academy of
Pediatrics, the National PTA and even the country’s largest teacher union, the
National Education Association, the custom hangs on, leading advocacy groups to
call for federal legislation.” [Add: the American Nurses Association, the
American Psychological Association, the Association of Junior Leagues
International, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the
National Association for the Education of Young Children, the National
Association of State Boards of Education, the National Association of Social
Workers, the National Association of School Psychologists, the National Mental
Health Association, and the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse]
NCACPS also observes the trend outside our
borders: “Corporal
punishment in schools has now been banned by federal law in every country in
Europe, Central and South America, China and Japan. In the last two years three African countries have also prohibited
the practice, throwing off one more vestige of colonial control. About half the Canadian provinces have bans,
as does all but one state in Australia.”
“We can talk all we want to
about ‘Safe Schools,’” says, Robert Fathman, President of the NCACPS and
Co-Chair of EPOCH-USA, “but when we have teachers picking up boards and hitting
more than 2,000 students every day of the school year, what kind of lesson are
we teaching children about how to deal with their anger? We don’t allow people to treat their animals
this way, or prisoners, or military recruits -- shouldn’t we afford children at
least the same level of protection that we give our dogs?”
July
2000 - The Center for Effective Discipline, EPOCH-Worldwide, London England
The
ten worst paddling states (highest to lowest) according to the most recent
survey by the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights are:
Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, Georgia,
Missouri, and New Mexico.
U.S. Department of Education, OCR Report,
1998
Schools
are the only institutions in America in which striking another person is
legally sanctioned. The use of physical
force with the intention of causing pain but not injury, for the purpose of
correction or control of behavior is illegal in every state of the U. S.,
except when the target is a child.
Schools
that use corporal punishment often have poorer academic achievement, more
vandalism, truancy, pupil violence and higher drop out rates.
Called
a method of last resort, corporal punishment if often used first …and for minor
misbehaviors.
Having
proven their worth, the many alternatives to CP teach children to be
self-disciplined rather than cooperative only because of fear.
Arkansas
children should expect to be able to go to a public facility without their
parents and not fear that an adult (probably two) may take them alone to a
private place where they may be forced to submit to a beating with a board,
despite any sort of protest. That is
everyone’s expectation and everyone’s right, unless chronological age is less
than eighteen.
Corporal
Punishment perpetuates a cycle of child abuse.
It teaches children to hit someone smaller and weaker when angry.
More
progress toward preventing physical abuse can be made if more organizations
concerned with reducing physical abuse stop ignoring corporal punishment. “SpankOut Day”
is designed to give it attention.
Randy
Cox, LCSW, ACSW
NeverHitAChild.ORG
"The No Spanking
Page": www.neverhitachild.org
"Corporal
Punishment in Arkansas Public Schools":
www.neverhitachild.org/Arkansas