My father was a bit of a troublemaker during his time in school and recalls sometimes being hit with a paddle as punishment by his teacher or principal. Back then, the paddles were thick and equipped with holes to allow wind to pass through, making the hit sting even more than it would without the holes. This narrative, although sad and obviously wrong, seems fitting for the 1970s and ’80s, a time when there was far less evidence about the effects of hitting children, especially in schools.
I was stunned to learn that Kentucky is one of nineteen states that still allows paddling, or more formally, “corporal punishment.” Although incidents have dropped from 1,581 in 2010 to 574 in 2015, paddling is still legal in a majority of Kentucky counties and actively practiced in at least 25 of them, meaning students around the state are still subject to paddling for minor offenses such as tardiness or violating the school dress code. Kentucky Youth Advocates found that both students with special education needs and those who are from low-income families are overrepresented in uses of corporal punishment, with the majority of these instances occurring in elementary schools.
Although parents are generally (but not always) notified of when their child will be paddled ahead of time, not all parents have the ability to drop everything to discipline their child themselves. This puts parents in a powerless position, forcing them to comply, and making them complicit in the act, defenseless if their child comes home bruised, having been hit by a school authority figure. Meanwhile, corporal punishment does little to correct the child’s behavior in the long-term; rather, it shows students that using aggression and violence is an acceptable way of getting others to behave.
It pains me to think I live in an age in which, conceivably, a young woman could walk into her school wearing something deemed “excessively tight” or “disruptive of the learning atmosphere,” and paddled by an administrator for it. And what about special education students across the state who could be paddled in an attempt to correct behavior which may simply be misunderstood? I live in a state which allows students and parents to be powerless, even when it comes down to their own safety and well-being.
Corporal punishment is not tricky to stop; indeed, many individual Kentucky school districts have passed express language forbidding it. But there are likely students and other citizens in other districts who are simply unaware that it is still allowed in their local schools. As there is little evidence to prove any benefits for allowing such an old-fashioned and illegitimate form of discipline to continue, we can all do more to draw attention to this problem.
Call your school boards, create a stir, let them know that students should not and cannot be hit simply for being late to class or speaking out.
