Should Corporal Punishment Be Allowed In Schools?

SEP 21, 2014 @ 04:49 PM 66,936 VIEWS The Little Black Book of Billionaire Secrets

James Marshall Crotty , CONTRIBUTOR

I cover education as a sector and as the bedrock of all sectors.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Nineteen US states currently allow corporal punishment in private and public schools (all 50 states allow
“reasonable” corporal punishment in the home). Around 185,000 students were physically disciplined in
American primary and secondary schools in 2009, according to the most recent Federal data. Around
80% of those so punished were boys, according to the Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data
Collection (CRDC). Moreover, 36.67% of black students received corporal punishment, even though
blacks represented only 17.13% of the overall student population.

These statistics have gained particular poignancy in light of a September 11 Montgomery County, Texas
grand injury indictment charging Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson with felonious
“reckless or negligent injury to a child” for his May 18 self-admitted “whooping” of his four-year-old son
with a tree branch. According to the victim, and Peterson’s own admission, the child suffered not only
defensive wounds to his hands, but bruises and cuts to his buttocks, ankles, legs, back and scrotum. As a
result of the charges, Nike suspended their endorsement deal with the 2012 NFL MVP, and Castrol
Motor Oil ended their relationship with Peterson altogether. The Vikings banned Peterson from all team
activities.

States (in red) That Still Allow Corporal Punishment in Schools (photo credit: Wikipedia)

In his defense, Mr. Peterson posted on Twitter that “I have to live with the fact that when I disciplined
my son the way I was disciplined as a child, I caused an injury that I never intended or thought would
happen … But deep in my heart I have always believed I could have been one of those kids that was lost
in the streets without the discipline instilled in me by my parents and other relatives.”
Where Adrian Peterson grew up in East Texas, corporal punishment in schools, let alone the home, is
still legally allowed. In fact, the very high school that Peterson attended, Palestine High School, in
Palestine, Texas, still allows corporate punishment (or CP). Phone calls and an email to Palestine High
principal William Stewart seeking clarification on the school’s CP policy were not returned.

Texas is not a regional outlier. Of the 19 states that still allow corporal punishment in schools, the
majority are in the South. In fact, almost the entire South (Virginia being the exception) endorses the
practice. So do Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Kansas, Missouri and Indiana. Comparing this list
against recent voting patterns in national elections suggests that higher rates of school corporal
punishment might correlate with cultural, religious and geographic factors. Indeed, a 2014 National
Institute of Health study found that corporal punishment is more likely to occur in communities where it
is considered “normative.”

Which begs a question: are local standards regarding corporal punishment in schools – even if rooted in
long-standing cultural, religious, and ethnic traditions – exculpatory?

Though some research shows long-term harms connected to corporal punishment (mood and anxiety
disorders, lower test scores, truancy, and -- later in life -- addiction and spousal abuse), courts have been
skittish about halting the practice altogether. In fact, courts have often granted schools the right to
corporal punishment on the grounds of In Loco Parentis (i.e., schools possess the same rights over a
child as do the child's parents).

Moreover, courts have a long history of enabling local practices considered anathema outside the
locality, especially when such practices are wrapped in the banner of religious liberty (“spare the road,
spoil the child”) or community standards. Anti-gay-marriage initiatives and the death penalty are just
two examples where states and localities are allowed wiggle room in contravening national or global
standards.

However, an important factor in advancing a higher standard than those set by states and localities is
when general public opinion moves strongly against a minority-held standard. The trend in public
opinion regarding corporal punishment in schools suggests that a Supreme Court ruling, federal
legislation, or both, might finally be in order to sweep away the last vestiges of the practice.

While a 2013 Harris Poll found that the vast majority of parents think that parental spanking is
sometimes appropriate, a recent ABCNEWS poll found that only 26% of those polled said that grade-
school teachers should be allowed to spank children at school. Moreover, 8 out of 10 of those parents
with grade-school children said that the practice should not be allowed. Even among adults who say
they spank their own kids, 67% reported that grade-school teachers should not be allowed to spank kids
at school. Even in the South – where the vast majority of those polled approved of spanking their kids –
just 35% supported spanking in the schools.

Still, even though public opinion seems to be trending against corporal punishment in school, the
practice remains.

What do you think? Should reasonable corporate punishment be allowed in schools? Moreover, should
the determination regarding its utility and legality be left up to states and localities in order to allow for
cultural, geographic and religious differences?

Or, as the Peterson case demonstrates, is the risk that “reasonable” bodily discipline -- even when
officially regulated -- could so easily turn into emotionally dysregulated “child abuse” so great that
corporal punishment should be banned altogether in American schools?

-- James Marshall Crotty