For the first time in over 18 years, Congress has held hearings on the use of Corporal Punishment in U.S. Schools. In the coming weeks, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (NY) will introduce a bill to institute a federal ban of corporal punishment in all US Schools. [source: US Congressional Hearing]
Every 20 seconds of the school day, a child is beaten by an educator. Every 4 minutes, an educator beats a child so severely that she seeks medical attention. According to conservative reporting to the U.S. Department of Education 223,190 students were the victims of institutionalized violence at least once in the 2006-2007 school year, of which over 20,000 sought medical attention. [source: Office for Civil Rights at the US Dept. of Education; Congressional Testimony]
Pre-school age through high school, students are being beaten with boards, belts, paddles, and whips... in public schools... in the United States... and while corporal punishment has been repeatedly shown to be ineffective and has deleterious effects on students, the practice continues and is legal in 20 states.
The iron age practice of "corporal punishment" is still legal in 20 states and there are no federal laws prohibiting it. The National Association of School Nurses defines corporal punishment as "the intentional infliction of physical pain as a method of changing behavior. It may include methods such as hitting, slapping, punching, kicking, pinching, shaking, use of various objects (paddles, belts, sticks, or others), or painful body postures."
From infractions as dangerous as forgetting a pencil to prom dress code violations, students are being beaten across the country. All of this, of course is without any due process, court hearing, and often the parents have no say in the matter. Did I mention that corporal punishment is outlawed in the US legal system, and even felons convicted of rape or murder can sleep soundly knowing they will never be subject to the same kinds of beatings we routinely doll out to our children in public schools. Not to mention that 97 out of the 100 largest US School districts have banned corporal punishment. [source: Center for Effective Discipline]
The United States stands alone in the developed world -- Canada, Europe, the UK, Australia and 102 other countries have long since outlawed the practice. [source:] The United Nations, Parent Teacher Association, American Civil Liberties Union, American Association of Pediatrics and countless other organizations have strong positions against the use of corporal punishment. [source:Center for Effective Discipline]
The American Psychological Association opposes the use of corporal punishment in schools and asserts that corporal punishment is violent and unnecessary, may lower self-esteem, is liable to instil hostility and rage without reducing the undesired behavior and is likely to train children to use physical violence.
In fact, the majority of research suggests that corporal punishment has little to no positive long term effects, actually decreases the effectiveness of other forms of punishment, and introduces a whole mess of other complications including increased drop out rates. Why then do some schools insist on using an ineffective, outdated practice? Since 30 states currently outlaw corporal punishment, what is so different in the lagging 20? Are the students somehow worse behaved? Are the teachers less capable of non-violent classroom management?
The United States must join the rest of the developed world and implement a federal ban on corporal punishment. Dodging the issue and leaving it up to the states is irresponsible and neglectful to the hundreds of thousands of kids physically abused by the education system every year. The "States Rights Gambit" didn't work for slavery or segregation, and it won't work for this either.
As a nation we may be in violation of international law by our non-compliance with the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights - which we signed and ratified in 1992. The UN's Committee on the Rights of the Child found that "[c]orporal punishment and other cruel or degrading forms of punishment are forms of violence and States must take all appropriate legislative, administrative, social and educatioal measures to eliminate them" [source: A Violent Education: Corporal Punishment of Children in U.S. Public Schools]
You can help spread awareness around this issue by sharing this article with friends, blogging about it yourself, and joining the Facebook Group
Additionally, contact your state representatives office, and let them know you support a Federal Ban on Corporal Punishment - this is a real chance to leave a human rights legacy you can be proud of.
This article is the first article in a series on Corporal Punishment in the United States by Anthony David Adams, Founder of DetentionSlip.org
Follow Anthony Adams on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AnthonyAdams
Joanne Bamberger: Corporal Punishment In Public Schools -- There's An App For That
http://www.positivediscipline.com/
The notice of this important legislation was never on the list of Huffington Post headlines in my morning email. I learned of it from an old colleague in children's shelter care. I found it on his Facebook page, after he found me and sent a friend request.
he article "Jennifer Love Hewitt: I'm Glad I Checked My Cheating Ex's Email," Has 606 responses and it was posted 3 days ago. I want to cry.
He also gave concrete, easy to duplicate ideas that may help other educators who are trying to influence student behaviors.
My guess, his students feel safe and secure in his class and conduct themselves accrdingly.
The horror of this form of abuse gave me nightmares last night and I am an adult, safe in my life in a country where it has been illegal for decades.
I just keep thinking about the emotional and physical risks of assaulting private body parts near the base of the spine and the flimsy excuses for doing so... students forgetting a pencil or not having had the money or time or permission to get a hair cut.
I am a high school teacher in Canada. Years ago I bought ten pencils for a dollar at the dollar store and I keep them in my classroom available to anyone in need. Over ten years I have spent only three dollars on pencils for students and I still have almost all of those with me. The point being, instead of hitting someone which wastes time, is criminal and doesn't solve the problem, I keep extra supplies in the class so that students feel safe and productive. I keep extra pens, pencils, tissue, power bars, silent reading novels, copies of hand outs, first aid kits and even feminine supplies, just in case as student is in need. Probably they would go to a female teacher, but my wife set me up well. :)
Peace & Justice,
Keith
A bright future is ours for the taking.
Rep.Carolyn McCarthy's office is aiming to have a bill drafted before Memorial Day that will ban corporal punishment in US schools. The 2 biggest things you can do are:
1) share this information/article with friends & family (post to facebook, like it on FB, email the article, etc.)
2) make a phone call or two to your federal representatives and voice your support for a federal ban on corporal punishment. It literally takes 5 minutes to call, and you will generally speak to a live person. http://www.votesmart.org/ has a simple interface where you can enter your zipcode and they let you know who to contact.
I believe it was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who said "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
Thanks so much Keith for your attention and support of this issue -- the kids of today and the world of tomorrow depends on it.
I look forward to that brighter future and will do all I can to help!
http://www.edpubs.gov/
Georgia law, OCGA 20-2-690.1 (a) compulsory school age is ages 6-16.
That is 10 years of a public education, but the child has 18 years before he/she is consideered an adult. .
The difference = 8 years of a childhood development where nobody is held liable or accountable for educating the child. In Georgia, Child Find is a program for children who "do not display adequate levels of proficiency" when compared to other children ages 2-4. Child Find Services are carried out in the public school setting. Georgia has free pre-k (thanks to the lottery) for ALL children 4 yrs old. There are limited all day pre k programs in the public school setting, and plenty of half day pre-k programs provided by daycares. A child identified for Child Find Services and attending a public school is NOT guaranteed a pre-k slot at the public school....simply because the money source is different. The education setting has nothing to do with the needs of the child, but everything to do with the source of the money and daycare lobbyists.
State constitutions and/or written laws only provide a fraction of a child's lifetimetime to "adequately" educate him/her. If parents are inadequate teachers during the non-compulsory years of learning ..then is it feasible to conclude that de facto teaching and learning will come from the community?
...It is not even the IMMEDIATE violence itself which is all you need to be charged with a crime if you deliberately inflict hellacious pain (the thing about a paddle is the broad area of the instrument and the broad fleshy area of the target free the adult to swing for absolute maximum pain) on an adult...
...If you can just get people to understand that the violence is for no reason -- not doing your work never gets an adult a painful as possible beating, then, you can automatically win the issue because that is the way we are wired automatically to think. Being late is just not a beating offense.
Very good point! The abuse of children and teens is done primarily out of the abuse of power, an untruth, a lie. Adults are not ethically entitled to assault children or teens. Adults who brainwash themselves into believing that beating is acceptable are buying into a lie. It is a classic case of the abuse of power and a misunderstanding or corruption of the role of educator.
I teach in Vancouver, Canada, where thankfully, corporal punishment has been illegal since 1971. I absolutely love my job. I have taught in inner city schools, affluent suburbs, private homes and the native friendship center and I have never needed to punish a student. It's just that simple :) I give out respectfulness, confidence, honesty, joy and commitment to the students and I get all those things back many times over. I LOVE my job! To me, teaching is service with integrity, and therefore must come from only the purest parts of who I am.
The kids are right about our distorted labor market.
As of three years ago, 25% OF THE AMERICAN WORK FORCE WAS EARNING LESS THAN THE MINIMUM WAGE UNDER LYNDON JOHNSON ($10/hr adjusted) -- DOUBLE THE AVERAGE INCOME LATER. If you predicted this strange happening to Americans in 1968 they would have asked: "What is going to happen: a comet strike, a nuclear war, multiple plagues?" This remarkable event (no healthy economic purpose -- it didn't happen in the rest of the OECD except maybe labor shafted Japan but that is a whole other story) which is JUST ONE quick look at our entire crazy market in an online post IS NOT EVEN REPORTED -- this crazy, crazy labor story. Nobody at all is minding the store.
Anyway the problems with schools, gangs, and almost every other social problem in this country (even our double bubble burst recession allowed because ruling Repubs could let financial markets go out of control because there was no labor political muscle to halt them) is a result of a labor market context nobody even notices.
So, why not have rules that teachers can consistently enforce and kids all kids can expect the same consequences?
Is there any relationship between the maps or could all of this be purely coincidental?
map of slave states...http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/prog10/maps/
Now, check out US map showing poverty http://www.ers.usda.gov/Data/Povertyrates/
Now, here's a map of states that utilize corporal punishment. http://www.corpun.com/counuss.htm
Then a map of graduation rates....http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.datadrivenmaps.com/myonlinemapscom/images/2007/05/30/picture2.png&imgrefurl=http://www.datadrivenmaps.com/myonlinemapscom/2007/05/index.html&usg=__hHaaAgSJCeASjg5p-F-2n2exIOQ=&h=331&w=460&sz=69&hl=en&start=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=ECiXC990XyYGcM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=128&prev=/images%3Fq%3DRegional%2BUS%2Bmap%2Band%2Bschools%2Bdrop%2Bout%2Brate%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1R2ADBR_enUS328%26tbs%3Disch:1
and that brings us back to my inital posting....tying federal dollars to scientic based research resulting in best practices, which is not likely to include corporal punishment.
SEC. 1118. PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT.
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/pg2.html#sec1118
(a) LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY POLICY-
"(E) conduct, with the involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the parental involvement policy in improving the academic quality of the schools served under this part, including identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in activities authorized by this section (with particular attention to parents who are economically disadvantaged, are disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background), and use the findings of such evaluation to design strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary, the parental involvement policies described in this section;"
I have observed for more than 13 years that parents who have expendable income always have a medium to monetarily supplement the education process, but what local decision making processes are there for parents who do not have the $$$ to hand over?.