Abolishing Corporal Punishment in the United States Schools

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Corporal punishment is a discipline method in which an administering adult inflicts pain upon a student (usually using a paddle) in response to a student's offensive behavior. Nowadays regulations have been created as to how many “swats” can be inflicted, by whom, and with what instrument. It is still used in many U.S. schools as a disciplinary method against disobedient or defiant students. Although corporal punishment is no longer tolerated in the military, prisons, or mental institutions, 21 states still allow corporal punishment in full or in part according to the U.S. Department of Education. Every year, more than 223,190 students are being subjected to this particular form of punishment in public schools, and a disproportionate number are minority students, male students, and students with disabilities. Research has also shown a correlation between the use of corporal punishment and increased school truancy, dropout rates, violence, and vandalism schools. Principal Sid Leonard, from Toledo Ohio states, expresses his feelings against corporal punishment: "The same ones kept coming back for more. It wasn't working. Hitting children did not seem to improve their behavior. It seemed in fact to be reinforcing the very behaviors I was attempting to eliminate." Advocates of corporal punishment view it as a fast and effective procedure as opposed to a time consuming suspension. Father Philip Berrigan, a teacher at St. Augustine High school in New Orleans, expresses how beneficial corporal punishment served him as a teacher: "Sometimes we sent a student to the principal's office for a paddling, and I have seen a marvelous clearing of the air with a simple whack on the butt. The offending student realized without resorting to guilt ...

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...n, while only 36% of paddling states scored above the mean.Likewise, while 11% of non‐paddling states scored below the national ACT average, 64% of paddling states scored below average. It is demeaning that the local authorities allow this act of paddling to continue on despite this correlation between testing and paddling. Maybe if the federal government were to withhold funding from states where corporal punishment is legal, the local authorities might be more inclined to pass the appropriate laws. The federal government will withhold funding from these states, therefore the local authorities will pass appropriate laws .(MP)
Corporal Punishment in schools is cruel and the remaining states in America who practice corporal punishment should eliminate it. Violence in the class is inhumane, mentally and physically. The practice is degrading and detrimental to a student

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