“Spare the rod; spoil the child.”
That proverb was upheld years ago as a guide to proper child rearing. Today, many find it outdated and archaic, especially with parents and schools trying to deemphasize violence and attempting to solve problems rationally and constructively. Corporal punishment seems like a ridiculous way to ensure good behavior.
However, corporal punishment is still thriving in 22 states, and it’s closer than you might imagine.
According to The New York Times, 70 percent of North Carolina school districts still allow corporal punishment. It’s not nuns in private schools brandishing rulers and striking hands as is often portrayed, but rather teachers in public schools are paddling the backside of their students.
“School is supposed to be a positive learning environment. If teachers are punishing students with violence, that’s just plain wrong; it promotes a negative atmosphere,” said sophomore Jen Banich. “I would loathe going every day.”
Many parents in districts where corporal punishment is allowed loathe the idea too. Tina Morgan, a woman from rural North Carolina, told The New York Times that she had no qualms with her son being paddled in school. That was until her son Travis, 12, came home with a black and blue back.
“I’ve decided we’ve got to get corporal punishment out of the schools,” she said after the incident.
A similar beating took place in Ohio in 1998, only the damage done by the 250 lb. principal was much worse than some black and blue marks.
“A 17 year old girl was paddled by her principal for breaking a minor rule. She was paddled so hard that it caused some damage to her reproductive organs and she suffered internal bleeding for three weeks,” said Julia Fout, a sophomore from Columbus, Ohio. “It’s really a parent’s decision when reprimanding their children in such manners.”
The mother of the girl, named Bria Rose, agreed that it’s wrong to hit children. She told The Cincinnati Post, ”It’s against the law here to strike a dog in public. Yet they can take a board – like my attorney says, that’s a lethal weapon – and hit your child.”
With a growing number of people moving to North Carolina from the northeastern part of the country, corporal punishment is coming under even more fire.
Peggy Dean recently moved to Union County, an expanding suburb of Charlotte, N.C. While Charlotte, and most other cities in North Carolina, has banned corporal punishment in its schools, Union County hasn’t. “If I’d known, I’d never have moved into this school district,” she said after learning of the county education laws.
Despite opposition to corporal punishment, some feel it’s a fair punishment, and districts continue to uphold laws that allow it.
“Some of our school board members felt that, if it were used correctly, as it would be, corporal punishment would be yet another deterrent to keep students from misbehaving,” said Luan Ingram, the chief communications officer of the Union County district, to The New York Times about a recent vote that favored upholding corporal punishment in their schools.
While corporal punishment may keep kids from misbehaving, it will also keep them in constant fear. “I think it promotes fear, and it teaches children to constantly be fearful of mistakes,” said sophomore Tess Reister.
Those who believe in corporal punishment follow the Biblical quote, “spare the rod, spoil the child,” and are perhaps trying to instill the fear of rule-breaking and God in their students.
Retired New York Police Department officer John Erker, who recently moved from New York City to North Carolina, told The New York Times he believes that southern culture may factor into corporal punishment laws. “We’re in the middle of the Bible Belt, and a lot of these old-school people really believe that this is the right thing to do with children.