EDUCATION: K-12: DISCIPLINE : EDUCATION: K-12: STUDENTS : MINORITIES : CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: Study Finds Minorities More Likely to be Paddled

EDUCATION: K-12: DISCIPLINE :
EDUCATION: K-12: STUDENTS :
MINORITIES :
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT:
Study Finds Minorities More Likely to be Paddled

Study Finds Minorities More Likely to be Paddled
By LIBBY QUAID
Associated Press
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WASHINGTON (AP) Paddlings, swats, licks. A quarter of a million schoolchildren got them last year and blacks, American Indians and kids with disabilities got a disproportionate share of the punishment, according to a study by a human rights group.

Even little kids can be paddled. Heather Porter, who lives in Crockett, Texas, was startled to hear her little boy, then 3, say he'd been spanked at school. Porter was never told, despite a policy at the public preschool that parents be notified.

"We were pretty ticked off, to say the least. The reason he got paddled was because he was untying his shoes and playing with the air conditioner thermostat," Porter said. "He was being a 3-year-old."

For the study, which was being released Wednesday, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union used Education Department data to show that, while paddling has been declining, racial disparity persists. Researchers also interviewed students, parents and school personnel in Texas and Mississippi, states that account for 40 percent of the 223,190 kids who were paddled at least once in the 2006–2007 school year.

Porter could have filled out a form telling the school not to paddle her son, if only she had realized he might be paddled.

Yet many parents find that such forms are ignored, the study said.

Widespread paddling can make it unlikely that forms will be checked. A teacher interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Tiffany Bartlett, said that when she taught in the Mississippi Delta, the policy was to lock the classroom doors when the bell rang, leaving stragglers to be paddled by an administrator patrolling the hallways. Bartlett now is a school teacher in Austin, Texas.

And even if schools make a mistake, they are unlikely to face lawsuits. In places where corporal punishment is allowed, teachers and principals generally have legal immunity from assault laws, the study said.

Groups target corporal punishment in schoolsStory Highlights
Human Rights Watch, ACLU say spanking "discourages learning"

Corporal punishment is used frequently in schools in 13 states, legal in 21

Groups say such punishments are often disproportionately applied

James Dobson's group says spanking "can be useful" in elementary schools

CNN News
<http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/20/corporal.punishment/>

CNN) -- The 3-year-old came home in tears from his public pre-kindergarten program, unable to adequately describe what had happened to him or how he had sustained bruises that stretched around his hips to his stomach.

His mother figured out he had been paddled at the program for taking off his shoes during class and playing with an air conditioner. When she went to school officials about the matter, she found that the paddling was allowed under school policy. Ultimately, she wound up withdrawing her son from the rural Texas school.

The boy's case was profiled in a report issued Wednesday by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. He was among hundreds of thousands of children receiving corporal punishment in school, the groups said, a topic debated as hotly as corporal punishment at home. Last school year, more than 200,000 children were spanked or paddled at school, according to the organizations' joint report.

"Every public school needs effective methods of discipline, but beating kids teaches violence, and it doesn't stop bad behavior," wrote Alice Farmer, the author of the report. "Corporal punishment discourages learning, fails to deter future misbehavior and at times even provokes it."

Corporal punishment in schools remains legal in 21 U.S. states and is used frequently in 13: Missouri, Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida, according to data received from the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education and cited in the report.

The highest percentage of students receiving corporal punishment was in Mississippi, with 7.5 percent of students. The highest number was in Texas, with 48,197 students.

"When you talk to local school officials, they point to the fact that it's quick and it's effective -- and that's true," Farmer said. "It doesn't take much time to administer corporal punishment, and you don't have to hire someone to run a detention or an after-school program." But, she said, "we need forms of discipline that makes children understand why what they did was wrong."

In addition, corporal punishment can be linked to poverty and lack of resources. For instance, the report states, "teachers may have overcrowded classrooms and lack resources such as counselors to assist with particularly disruptive students or classroom dynamics."

Overall, 223,190 students received corporal punishment in 2006–07, according to the Department of Education statistics. That number is down from 342,038 students in 2000–01 as more and more districts abolished corporal punishment.

The punishment is disproportionately applied to African-American students, according to the organizations. During the 2006–07 school year, for instance, black students made up 17.1 percent of the nationwide student population but 35.6 percent of those paddled at schools.

African-American girls were paddled at twice the rate of their white counterparts in the 13 states using corporal punishment most frequently. And although boys are punished more often than girls, the report found that African-American students in general are 1.4 times more likely to receive corporal punishment.

In addition, special education students with mental or physical disabilities were more likely to receive corporal punishment, according to the organizations.

US: End Beating of Children in Public Schools 20 Aug 2008 08:00:35 GMT Source: Human Rights Watch
Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

 Abusive, Discriminatory Punishment Undermines Education

More than 200,000 US public school students were punished by beatings during the 2006–2007 school year, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union said in a joint report released today. In the 13 states that corporally punished more than 1,000 students per year, African-American girls were twice as likely to be beaten as their white counterparts.

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The report found that in the 13 southern states where corporal punishment is most prevalent, African-American students are punished at 1.4 times the rate that would be expected given their numbers in the student population, and African-American girls are 2.1 times more likely to be paddled than might be expected. There is no evidence that these students commit disciplinary infractions at disproportionate rates.

"Minority students in public schools already face barriers to success," said Farmer. "By exposing these children to disproportionate rates of corporal punishment, schools create a hostile environment in which these students may struggle even more."

Students with mental and physical disabilities are also punished at disproportionate rates, with potentially serious consequences for their development. In Texas, for instance, 18.4 percent of the total number of students who were physically punished were special education students, even though they make up only 10.7 percent of the student population.

"A Violent Education" is based on four weeks of on-the-ground research in Mississippi and Texas in late 2007 and early 2008, including more than 175 interviews with children, teachers, parents, administrators, superintendents, and school board members.

The report documents several cases in which children were beaten to the point of serious injury. Since educators who beat children have immunity under law from assault proceedings, parents who try to pursue justice for injured children encounter resistance from police, district attorneys, and courts. Parents also face enormous, sometimes insurmountable, obstacles in trying to prevent physical punishment of their children. While some school districts permit parents to sign forms opting out of corporal punishment for their children, the forms are often ignored.

A Violent Education
Corporal Punishment of Children in US Public Schools
Human Rights Watch
Publications
<http://hrw.org/reports/2008/us0808/>

Table of Contents

I. Summary and Key Recommendations

Corporal Punishment in US Public Schools

Key Recommendations

II. Methodology

III. Corporal Punishment in US Public Schools

The Mechanics of Corporal Punishment

The Atmospherics of Corporal Punishment

The Devils Bargain: Choosing to Be Beaten

IV. Offenses Leading to Corporal Punishment

Disproportionate Responses to Minor Misbehavior

Vague Offenses and Arbitrary Use of Corporal Punishment

Corporal Punishment for Serious Offenses, including Violence

V. Prevalence of Corporal Punishment in US Public Schools

Data on Corporal Punishment

Constant and High Levels of Paddling in Some Schools

VI. Impact of Corporal Punishment

Lasting Injuries and Immediate Pain

Depression and Anger

Academic Disengagement and Drop Out

Links to Domestic Violence

VII. Best Practices in School Discipline

Positive Disciplinary Approaches

Educators Views on Corporal Punishment

VIII. The Use of Corporal Punishment against Specific Groups

Boys Paddled More Than Girls

Race

Particular Issues Raised by the Paddling of Girls

Special Education Students and Students with Disabilities

IX. Regulating Discipline in Schools

Regulations and Training on School Discipline

Educators Who Disagree are without Recourse

Parental Choice

X. Seeking Redress for Corporal Punishment

School District Response to Parental Complaints

Immunity for Perpetrators

Lack of Adequate Responses from Police or Courts

Parents Inability to Protect Children

XI. Banning Corporal Punishment: International Human Rights Law and US Constitutional Standards

International Human Rights Law

US Law Permitting Corporal Punishment

Trends to Abolish Corporal Punishment

XII. Conclusion and Recommendations

To Legislatures in States with Corporal Punishment

To Governors and Departments of Education in States with Corporal Punishment

To Police, District Attorneys, and State Courts

To the President of the United States

To the United States Congress

To the US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights

To School Boards, Superintendents, Principals, and Teachers

To Teachers Colleges and Teacher Training Programs

To Professional Bodies Working in Education

To Private and Non-Profit Foundations that Fund US Public Education or Advocate for Improvements in Education

Acknowledgments

August 2008 ISBN: 1–56432–369–2

The complete articles may be read at the URLs provided for each.

WEBBIB0809

The complete Human Rights Watch Report may be read at the URL provided for that report.

Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 – 4584
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