You cannot find a single worthwhile study concluding that using “paddling” as a means of discipline for children—or anyone, for that matter—is a productive and positive practice. Still, more than a third of the states in our country allow this very type of “discipline” in schools. CBS Georgia affiliate WRDW reports that the Georgia School for Innovation and the Classics (GSIC), a charter school in Hephzibah, near August, Georgia, has been sending out consent forms to parents. Consent to what? To paddling their children in kindergarten and 1st through 9th grades.
You see, according to Jody Boulineau, the school’s superintendent, "there was a time where corporal punishment was kind of the norm in school and you didn't have the problems that you have.” Jody Boulineau sounds like quite the peach!
"It's just one more tool that we have in our disciplinary toolbox that we can use,” Superintendent Boulineau said.
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The form spells it out: a student will be taken into an office behind closed doors. The student will place their hands on their knees or piece of furniture and will be struck on the buttocks with a paddle. [Emphasis in the original.]
According to Boulineau, there’s no requirement to sign the consent form, but the school will begin paddling kids on a “three-strikes” bases, giving two warnings followed by the punishment. If a parent opts out of allowing their kids to be physically abused by somebody at the school, they are opting in, strangely, to a more severe punishment.
Parents who opt out of the paddling must agree to up to five days of suspension as punishment for their children. GSIC is the only school in the August area that will start paddling students who are misbehaving this year.
“Up to five days of suspension?” That’s a lot of days that can be wiped away with a little paddling. It’s almost like Superintendent Boulineau is not simply shitty at being an educator and disciplinarian, but is also really hankering to smack some small children around. Like a bully.
The paddle will be 24 inches in length, six inches in width and 3/4 inches in thickness, the form specifies. Parents will be notified if their child is to be paddled by an administrator, according to the form, which CBS News has not independently verified.
In recent years, schools have threatened corporal punishment techniques against students who might, say, peacefully protest racial injustice. For what it’s worth. That won’t make racial injustice magically disappear, nor will it make young people forget to stand up (or kneel, for that matter) in protest.
Any study on the matter will explain that, while there may be small gains in the short run—you stop a child from acting out that day—in the long run you do considerably more damage to the child.
Nearly 30 studies from various countries show that children who are regularly spanked become more aggressive. They are also more likely to be depressed or take drugs, even after correcting for other factors.
Now, this doesn’t mean that if you are paddled you will be depressed or take drugs. It just means you are more likely to. Frequently, lame-brained people will talk about how they were paddled and they’re A-Okay, and anybody who complains is a snowflake. They will say this in the same breath that they will tell you how they didn’t have a good relationship with their parents, or about how terrible their teachers were. But anywho!
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