I received a press release this morning with a subject line that read: “New Mexico Governor Bans Corporal Punishment“!
Um…say what?
I have obviously been oblivious to the fact that corporal punishment is still allowed in 19 states (YES 19!) around the U.S. In fact, did you know that “every 23 seconds in THIS COUNTRY, a public school student is beaten in their classroom by an educator?” Now, call me crazy, but I believe that school is challenging enough without children walking out the door every morning with the fear of being physically abused if they either do something wrong, act out of turn, or do not score appropriately on a test. I was pleased to see the following statement as I read through through the press release further…..
“Thankfully for New Mexico, Governor Susan Martinez recently signed the bill banning coporal punishment in her state, which moves the count from 20 to 19 states still allowing paddling in schools! Through a combination of tools provided by the Unlimited Justice campaign including an interactive website, iPhone app, and social media sites, the Unlimited Justice team and fellow anti-corporal punishment supporters were able to let the voices of the people of New Mexico be heard”.
Student, Payton Lewis, was paddled with excessive force and he fought to end paddling in his school. You can watch his story on YouTube here.
Corporal punshment is unjust…period! Citzens, soldier, priosoners and even animals are protected from being physically punished or abused, yet 19 of our US states think that this practice is a burden that is ok to put upon our children. Over 200,000 students have been left victims of violence from their teachers and/or administrators. Of those students, 20,000 require hospital treatment every year.
I have a very hard time swallowing this.
You can take action by visiting www.unlimitedjustice.com and joining the fight to end paddling in U.S. schools! You can also follow Unlimited Justice on Facebook and Twitter.
Disclaimer: I was NOT provided with compensation or product of any kind for my thoughts on this matter. I believe that corporal punishment is wrong and I’m astounded that such an archaic practice is allowed in our country! I hope you will join the fight to end this practice, along with me!
My MIL was able to do this back in the 60’s or 70’s. SERIOUSLY some states can still do this to our children in schools. That is so ridiculous!!! If a teacher ever touched my child I would be getting them fired. Heck my husband won’t even really touch a kid unless necessary to break up a fight because he could get fired.
We don’t spank or do anything physical whatsoever so I’d be absolutely against someone else imposing violence, even if they feel it to be proper punishment, if our kids misbehaved. Many children find this kind of absurd reaction at home. We don’t need it in our schools.
Here at home, my raised eyebrow has more power and influence than any paddle ever could.
Our school district does corporal punishment. I had to sign a form stating that they COULD NOT give my child swats.
I am with you on this issue. I don’t want anyone spanking or paddling my child but me. I would get freaked even if relatives decided to punish my kids that way. Those wooden paddles hurt like hell. When I was 5 or 6 family friends used to babysit me and they used a wooden paddle – with holes in it – on their own daughters when they misbehaved. They threatened to use it on me several times but I was a smart ass ass and told them that my mom would never approve of punishing me that way and she would be pissed at them. They I was right so even though I was threatened with it I never received a beat down. I watched what it did to their girls and it was awful. My parents used a belt on me a couple of times which I know they didn’t enjoy doing but I drove them to the brink of insanity sometimes. I would just never discipline my child that way. The worst I have done is slapping their hands, but even after that I felt awful. No punishment is worth making you feel like an abuser or your child feel like they are being abused.
No one has ever spanked my daughter, and I don’t plan on ever spanking her. It teaches a child that overpowering someone and hurting them is a way to accomplish a goal. Is that what you want your kid to learn? Even if the behavior you wanted to stop, does indeed stop, that is the lesson you have actually taught.
I have mixed feelings on this…
In grade school, paddling was allowed, in fact, I was witness to it at least 5 times, each time the same child. I’m convinced that this kid is probably in prison right now.
Back then, we had more respect for our teachers and most definitely our principal. The paddle put a fear in kids that kept them acting right and helped avoid a disruptive learning environment. But … it’s up to parents as to how they want their child punished. Each year a waiver went home to have your child excluded from this type of discipline.
On the other hand, I would hope it would require a SEVERE infraction to resort to paddling a student. It worries me that this form of discipline could be used excessively.
I am 100% against corporal punishment.
With that being said, if the same kid is being paddled 5 times on different occasions, it doesn’t sound like an effective punishment. How can anyone prove that he’s learning something from his behavior if nothing changes after his punishment?
I hope that even though 19 states “allow” it on the books that it is not really something practiced. I would be outraged if anyone besides myself/husband laid a hand on my daughter. It is a personal decision to spank or not, no one should enforce corporal punishment on a child not there own.
I went to a private school that had corporal punishment. It did not hurt me at all. I got two spankings (with a wooden spoon) and that’s all it took. I was a good little girl from then on. I did not talk in class, did my homework, and was nice to everyone. It worked! on me and on everyone. We were all well-behaved.
How my child is disciplined really should be mine and my husband’s call. While we will swat our daughter on the hand, that’s where it ends. Someone else making the call and doing it to her is NOT ok with me. I just found out that MY state allows it. Yet another reason I am pushing to move back to my home state. Not that in my wildest dreams I would think my daughter would do something to deserve it, but you just never know.
I have volunteered at many different schools over the years and the level of disrespect that the teachers are forced to put up with on their salaries is unbelievable. I feel that corporal punishment is completely acceptable in extreme situations and might make a difference in a child later in life. I think the “abused child” (not that I am saying that abuse doesn’t exist because certainly it does) excuse has given children free reign to talk to and treat people any way they see fit and has contributed greatly to high crime rates and socialization problems.
I am sorry, but no one punishes my children but me, if it is necessary.
As I type this I realize that I am probably in the minority and that is alright, but the school I attended when I was younger paddled if the situation called for it and honestly I don’t think that it was a bad thing at all. I look back at how much more respectful children were to adults when I was a child and then look at how children talk to adults now and it’s just awful. I firmly believe that one of the biggest reasons children misbehave today is because they know that there is a good chance that their parents can’t/won’t do anything about it either out of fear of being looked at like a monster or having the authorities called on them and that’s just complete crap. When I was younger I behaved because I knew that if I didn’t my mother was busting my butt and that fear kept me from doing things that I shouldn’t. Fast forward to me being a mother and my children know that I am not above giving them a spanking if they deserve one and most of the time that fear keeps them from doing things that would warrant a spanking. I think that the same thing applies to school, if children know there is a chance that they are going to get paddled for being bad, that may be enough to keep them from exhibiting the behavior in the first place. While I wouldn’t want anyone paddling my children without my permission I can’t say that I would object if the situations was one that I felt warranted that punishment.