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Classes started Monday for the 1,900 students in Cassville R-IV School District, about an hour west of Branson and some 15 miles from the Arkansas border. During open house, families were notified that the school board had adopted a policy in June allowing “use of physical force as a method of correcting student behavior.” Parents were handed forms to specify whether they authorize the school to use a paddle on their child, the Springfield News-Leader reported.
Formally known as corporal punishment, the disciplinary measure usually involves striking students on the buttocks with a wooden paddle. In Cassville, staff members will employ “reasonable physical force” — without a “chance of bodily injury or harm” — in the presence of a witness, according to the new policy. A teacher or principal must also send a report to the superintendent explaining the reasoning behind the punishment.
What exactly constitutes “reasonable physical force” is unclear. Superintendent Merlyn Johnson declined an interview request from The […]
This is truly madness. The lessons you think the students learn, may not be the lessons they really learn at all.
“Groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Psychological Association have warned that corporal punishment can spark academic, emotional and behavioral issues. A 2016 Journal of Family Psychology study found that spanking increased the risk of aggression and antisocial behavior.
The United Nations considers corporal punishment to be a human rights violation.”
When I was in high school, I got the “paddle” a few times; the teacher even drilled hole in the paddle so he could swing it harder and it hurt more. That was just the way it was, and it worked to keep us in line.
P.S.: that should have said many holes.