Many people, even within the USA, think corporal punishment has long disappeared from all American public schools. This is not so.
The US Supreme Court decided in 1977 that spanking or paddling by schools is lawful where it has not been explicitly outlawed by local authorities. It is true that the incidence of CP has declined sharply in recent years, but only 31 states (plus D.C. and Puerto Rico) have actually abolished it in public schools, either de facto or de jure. CP is still used in the other 19 states, and it remains a fairly common practice in three of them, all in the South: Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi.
It is also routine, but only in a minority of (often rural or small-town) schools, in five more southern states: Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
The latest states to abolish were Delaware, in 2003, after an eight-year gap in which no abolitions took place at state level; Pennsylvania, in 2005; Ohio, in 2009; and New Mexico, in 2011. The number of paddlings had already fallen to a low level in these states.
On the other hand, efforts to ban school CP by legislation have failed in 2003 in Wyoming and repeatedly in Missouri, and also in North Carolina in 2007, Louisiana in 2009 and Texas in 2011.
Legislative attempts to reintroduce CP in California (1996), Montana (1997), Iowa (1998) and, more ambiguously, Oregon (1999) were fairly easily defeated. Also rejected was a 2007 bill to make it easier to spank students in Kansas, and a 2013 bill in Oklahoma to restore CP rights to individual class teachers (presumably as opposed to school principals, for whom it remains lawful).
A US Supreme Court ruling in 1975 (Baker vs Owen) held that schools could spank students against the wishes of their parents, subject to various criteria being met.
But in 2011, laws were introduced in both Texas and North Carolina giving parents the right to exempt their students from any CP provisions. This codifies what in many areas was already the practice, formally or informally. However, the new Texas rule applies only to large urban areas, those school districts with a population under 50,000 (of which there are hundreds) being exempted. Since most large urban school districts had already abolished CP, and since many other districts already allowed parents to opt out, this new Texas legislation may not make a great deal of difference on the ground.
3 comments:
this is corporal punishment
Corporal punishment in US schools (CP)
Many people, even within the USA, think corporal punishment has long disappeared from all American public schools. This is not so.
The US Supreme Court decided in 1977 that spanking or paddling by schools is lawful where it has not been explicitly outlawed by local authorities. It is true that the incidence of CP has declined sharply in recent years, but only 31 states (plus D.C. and Puerto Rico) have actually abolished it in public schools, either de facto or de jure. CP is still used in the other 19 states, and it remains a fairly common practice in three of them, all in the South: Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi.
It is also routine, but only in a minority of (often rural or small-town) schools, in five more southern states: Georgia, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
The latest states to abolish were Delaware, in 2003, after an eight-year gap in which no abolitions took place at state level; Pennsylvania, in 2005; Ohio, in 2009; and New Mexico, in 2011. The number of paddlings had already fallen to a low level in these states.
On the other hand, efforts to ban school CP by legislation have failed in 2003 in Wyoming and repeatedly in Missouri, and also in North Carolina in 2007, Louisiana in 2009 and Texas in 2011.
Legislative attempts to reintroduce CP in California (1996), Montana (1997), Iowa (1998) and, more ambiguously, Oregon (1999) were fairly easily defeated. Also rejected was a 2007 bill to make it easier to spank students in Kansas, and a 2013 bill in Oklahoma to restore CP rights to individual class teachers (presumably as opposed to school principals, for whom it remains lawful).
A US Supreme Court ruling in 1975 (Baker vs Owen) held that schools could spank students against the wishes of their parents, subject to various criteria being met.
But in 2011, laws were introduced in both Texas and North Carolina giving parents the right to exempt their students from any CP provisions. This codifies what in many areas was already the practice, formally or informally. However, the new Texas rule applies only to large urban areas, those school districts with a population under 50,000 (of which there are hundreds) being exempted. Since most large urban school districts had already abolished CP, and since many other districts already allowed parents to opt out, this new Texas legislation may not make a great deal of difference on the ground.
Post a Comment