Reported corporal punishments on US schools.

It seems to happen to around 250.000 children at US schools every year.
"Human Rights Watch" and the "American Civil Liberties Union" say that this mainly happens in the Southern States (C.P. is allowed in 21 States).

In Europe and in some 100 other countries worldwide corporal punishment is a no-no.
And worse for the USA : there also seems to be a relation with race : black children are punished much more often than white children.
Although parents can sign a form indicating that they do not approve corporal punishment, this does not seem to have much effect ...

Isn't it time to send development workers to the Southern States to educate there, and raise the levels of ethical and moral thinking ???



·

tomder55

I do not see the benefit of allowing corporal punishment in schools. If done publiclly it is an attempt at humiliation. Allowing it just feeds into this crazy notion that teaching is a substitute for parenting . I do not think anything that enables the nanny-state is a good thing.

Credendovidis

I was not referring to benefits. I was referring to harming children.
But I agree with you on this : teaching is not a substitute for parenting !!!



·

George_1950

Lack of discipline in school is 'epidemic'; I can recall a sixth grade teacher taking an offending student in the hall for 'instant' redress; there was no question about who was in control. Albert Einstein couldn't teach in American schools today because he isn't 'certified', which means, he hasn't taken an 'education' curriculum that trains him to place education within the skull of a disinterested student who is unaware of what is going on. If you haven't seen it, watch the HBO documentary, Hard Times at Douglass High. Are you willing to step into a classroom like those?

Skell

For once i agree with George. Call me hypocrite but although i'm against the heinous death penalty enforced in some states in your country, im not necessarily against harsher punishments / discipline at school. Whether that means corporal punishment or not i simply dont know. But the lack of respect for teachers is absolutely disgusting. Teachers need to have the power to teach these children respect. And how the teaching manual says it should be done simply doesnt work!

Credendovidis

Tell me about it ! I lived as an expatriate for over 30 years in various countries. Always had my children on International schools. When we lived in Guatemala, there was only an American International School. What a total mess was that in relation to what we were used to with British International Schools.
We were used to discipline being normal at schools, but not there. A total mess it was. And I am talking here about the 1980's ! So it seems nothing new.

But does that not show something is wrong with the US society at large, as on all other (British) International Schools this lack-of-discipline problem never occured at all?
Isn't the real question than : What causes that total lack of discipline and respect in the US?

And also - for this topic - do you really think that corporal punishment at schools can solve that problem, or is the real cause not the children, but the US society in general?
If I see an American movie I see almost every time lot's of different sorts of violence, drugs consumption, and sex. And that "ad nauseum" ...

Just see one single US police series : mainly car chases, shooting, explosions, misbehaving, and violence. Than see a Bristish police series (like Frost) : a good exciting plot, even sometimes humor, but no or hardly any violence.

Children behave like they see others behave. Around them, and on TV or in movies.
So why is general child behavior in the US and Europe so spectacular different?

Fr_Chuck

more likely time to start spanking kids in more schools, who cares what Europe does, they have thier own messes and are not a role model for anything I want our country to become.

It is a shame anyone ever stoped using spanking

J_9

Personally, I will allow NO ONE to spank my child except for myself of my husband.

In the first place I am not an advocate of physical abuse. Out of 4 children I have only spanked one. I guess I am the exception to the rule. I AM the parent. I make the rules and my children follow them. Now, don't get me wrong, I am also my children's best friend. I know how to separate friendship from parenthood and my children know their boundaries.

If my child misbehaves at school to the point of a "paddling" I require that I be present at such "paddling." In 23 years, it's never happened.

It's such a shame that our society has digressed to the point of the educators being the disciplinarians.

Fr_Chuck

tell that to a teacher who is spit on, or pushed in the hall, today, The inner city schools are one of the most scariest places I have ever walked, and I have worked the wost prisons in the US. Several of the inner city schools had me more scared than any of them ever did. There is no respect, no disipline what so ever.

And of course spankingis not phscial abuse in my opinion, all my kids had a strict rule, you get spanked at school, you get another one when you get home.

It has to happen because parents don't do thier jobs at home any longer

Skell

I had the same rule applied to me. And it worked. I played up at times but generally i had the same respect for my teachers as i did my parents. Some of the other kids though were a different story. And generally they were the kids whose parents lacked discipline at home. I'm with you on this one chuck. I'm not a parent but i can tell you right now i will spank my child whether his mother likes it or not!