A school in Georgia, as well as several schools around the country, have continued or brought back corporal punishment for students, including paddling. Of course, all punishments would only be performed with parental permission, but it still seems very wrong to me to punish children in a way as violent as this. I can think of some occasions when strict discipline would need to be enforced, however, I don't think that violent punishment should ever be advocated in schools.
In the past, it was a social "norm" to have punishments similar to paddling in schools, but as we as a country have developed stronger support of everyone's rights (including children), which I believe includes the right against cruel and unusual punishment (which I would consider this). Though I do see that many could think that this is the only way to control extreme behavior in a classroom, there's always a better way to handle it; some may also think that this is not a violent punishment, but being a child myself, I cannot imagine being paddled at school.
I read that spanking (or paddling) was first enforced as almost a lighter, more suited for children, version of whipping, which was mostly only used on adults. Paddles were used also to punish slaves during the slave trade, as to not scar them and keep them in better working condition. Though the punishment nowadays with these children cannot even compare to the horrific punishment of slaves, the situations are similar.
Source: http://time.com/5392213/georgia-school-brings-back-paddling/
I understand students need punishment but, using the paddle in my opinion is just repeating history and might start problems/controversy.
ReplyDeleteI think that spanking children with a paddle is old fashioned and embarrassing to the kids. In my opinion paddling children is too extreme, violence is not the answer :(
ReplyDeleteI feel like the punishment of paddling is very harsh, it may deter kids from doing things that they otherwise would because they would fear the punishment. Sometimes I feel that schools are too afraid of the parents coming back to them, so they don't enforce rules or have any consequences that are enough to make kids choose not to break rules.
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