Corporal Punishment in School

According to one statistical study, every industrialized country in the world has banned corporal punishment in the schools with the exception of the United States, Canada, and one state in Australia. Obviously then, there is some disagreement about whether or not corporal punishment should be allowed by the school districts. Let’s look at some facts about corporal punishment before we delve into whether or not it truly is a solution to behavior problems in the school.

Most child services organizations are very clear that they do not endorse nor prohibit spanking as a form of punishment, but there is no clear distinction on when to draw the line between punishment and beating. How many swats are too many? Can you spank a child with your hand but not a belt? Is a wooden spoon a punishment tool or a means to beat a child?

Licensed child care centers, in every state in the US, are not allowed to spank or paddle a child, but many school districts are. In fact, National Coalition To Abolish Corporal Punishment In Schools (NCACPS) states that 27 US states have already abolished corporal punishment, but that means the remaining states have no laws against it, and many school districts do still administer corporal punishment as a consequence/punishment for negative behavior.

Having two children myself, one who just graduated from high school and another just entering junior high school, I found I knew very little about our own school district’s policy on corporal punishment. My daughter had never been in trouble severe enough to warrant it, but my son has already been threatened with what the school lovingly calls, “swats” twice this year alone.

So I decided to take my research away from the administrators and legislators and see what the children themselves had to say about corporal punishment. Interviewing six junior high school aged boy, three junior high school aged girls, five high school aged boys and five high school aged girls, I wanted to see what the children’s perspective on ‘swats’ really was.