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End beating of children in public schools
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.
In the 125-page report, "A Violent Education: Corporal Punishment of Children in US Public Schools," the ACLU and Human Rights Watch found that in Texas and Mississippi children ranging in age from 3 to 19 years old are routinely physically punished for minor infractions such as chewing gum, talking back to a teacher, or violating the dress code, as well as for more serious transgressions such as fighting. Corporal punishment, legal in 21 states, typically takes the form of “paddling,” during which an administrator or teacher hits a child repeatedly on the buttocks with a long wooden board. The report shows that, as a result of paddling, many children are left injured, degraded, and disengaged from school.
“Every public school needs effective methods of discipline, but beating kids teaches violence and it doesn’t stop bad behavior,” said Alice Farmer, Aryeh Neier Fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU, and author of the report. “Corporal punishment discourages learning, fails to deter future misbehavior and at times even provokes it.”
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. More than 200,000 US public school students were punished by beatings during the 2006-2007 school year, Human Rights Watch and the Ame... more -
200,000 kids are spanked at school every year.
More than 200,000 children were spanked or paddled in U.S. schools during the past school year, human rights groups reported Wednesday.
"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 a joint report from Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. "Corporal punishment discourages learning, fails to deter future misbehavior and at times even provokes it."
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 said, "Teachers may have overcrowded classrooms and lack resources such as counselors to assist with particularly disruptive students or classroom dynamics."
The punishment is disproportionately applied to black 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.
Black 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 ACLU and Human Rights Watch.
Evangelical leader James Dobson's influential Focus on the Family group is among those stopping short of calling for a full ban on paddling in schools.
"Corporal punishment is not effective at the junior and senior high school levels, and I do not recommend its application," Dobson said on the organization's Web site.
"It can be useful for elementary students, especially with amateur clowns (as opposed to hard-core troublemakers). For this reason, I am opposed to abolishing spanking in elementary schools because we have systematically eliminated the tools with which teachers have traditionally backed up their word. We're now down to a precious few. Let's not go any further in that direction."
Andrea Cancellare said her then-13-year-old son was paddled -- or "swatted" -- three years ago for flicking rubber bands in class, despite the fact she had written a letter directing school officials in Alpine, Texas, not to use corporal punishment against him. School officials told her they could not find the letter when she complained.
When she approached the principal and superintendent, Cancellare said, they told her that "most parents like this because it takes care of the punishment. It gets the kids back in class. It doesn't disrupt instruction. It's like the quick and dirty way of dealing with discipline problems."
"It works on some, and it doesn't work on others," Cervantes said. "If you're one of the individuals that it does work on, yes, it will become a deterrent."
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Cancellare disagrees. "I don't think it's the school's place to make decisions like that," she said. "I'm not necessarily in favor of that kind of punishment in the house either, but I feel like if somebody makes that decision, it should be the parent." More than 200,000 children were spanked or paddled in U.S. schools during the past school year, human rights groups reported Wednesday... more -
Study reveals spanking linked to child abuse
A study released Tuesday by doctors at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill finds that parents who spank their children with an object — such as a belt, switch or paddle — are nine times more likely to abuse their child through more severe means. Also, parents are much more likely to beat, burn or shake their children if they spank frequently, according to the study which is being published by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
It’s the latest finding in a growing body of research suggesting parents should use their voice, not their hands or household tools, to keep children in line. This study rests on anonymous admissions of 1,435 mothers of children from North and South Carolina randomly selected to share details of the discipline they and other caregivers use in the privacy of their own home.
Twelve percent of mothers who reported spanking a child’s bottom with an object also admitted engaging in behavior researchers classified as physical abuse. Also, 12 percent of those who spanked 50 or more times in the last year admitted abuse such as beating, burning, shaking or hitting the child with an object about their body.
Spanking has been a mainstay in American parents’ discipline regimen for generations. Most national studies show that more than half of parents have spanked or slapped their child in the past year. In the UNC-CH study, Zolotor and his colleagues found that nearly half of those Carolina parents with a child between the ages of 7 and 9 whipped their child’s behind with an object in the past year.
Over the last year, child advocates have appealed, without success, to legislators to outlaw corporal punishment in public schools. Some districts, such as Johnston County, have recently voted to abandon the practice.At least 56 school districts still allow administrators to spank or paddle children. Efforts to ban that practice entirely have met fierce opposition.
Some Christians heed the Bible’s admonition that parents who spare the rod will spoil their children. Several ministers have written books or taught seminars instructing parents how to employ the rod, preaching that a parents’ hand ought to be preserved for loving and nurturing, not discipline.
Beth Taylor, a mother of two boys, said she finally gave up on spanking years ago when her oldest son began acting worse after she turned to a belt to punish him. It was the only tactic she knew, Taylor said. Growing up, her father had whipped her and her sisters with a strap. Frustrated, she took a parenting class to figure out what was going wrong. There, Taylor said, she learned her spanking provoked her son. Now, to get her oldest son to behave, Taylor disconnects his cell phone. For her youngest, 7, she takes away his video game machine.
“Nothing gets their attention faster,” said Taylor. A study released Tuesday by doctors at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill finds that parents who spank their children with a... more -
Temple leader quits over beating scandal
The president of a Hare Krishna temple in Letchmore Heath has been forced to resign after being found guilty of beating students in India.
Gauri Das, president of Bhaktivedanta Manor, in Hilfield Lane, inflicted "inappropriate and excessive corporal punishment", according to a report published this week.
The abuse occurred during his time teaching at the Vrndavana Gurukula school between 1991 and 2001.
A Bhaktivedanta Manor representative said: "We regret that Gauri Das will not be able to continue as an officer of our temple, but we also recognise the important need of the child protection office to acknowledge problems in the care of children in the past, and to address those issues.
"We are pleased Gauri Das has indicated he would like to meet with the former students in the hope of further reconciliation."
Filip Hnizdo The president of a Hare Krishna temple in Letchmore Heath has been forced to resign after being found guilty of beating students in In... more -
Kenya: Government Should End All Corporal Punishment
The government should make it a priority to end violence against children whether in the home, school or elsewhere, five human rights organizations said today in joint letters to Kenya’s ministers of education, gender and children affairs, and justice.
Even though officials in 2007 welcomed a UN study on violence against children, little has been done to implement the study’s recommendations.
“Corporal punishment must be abolished in all settings,” said the letter signed by Human Rights Watch, African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN), The Cradle, Kenya Alliance For Advancement of Rights of Children (KAARC), and Children Legal Action Network (CLAN). The organizations said a full ban on corporal punishment could be achieved “through amendments to the Children’s Act and the Education Act, which are currently being prepared for vote in parliament.”
The letter stressed that the new ministers will have a crucial function in protecting the rights of young Kenyans. The ministers were appointed as members of a coalition government in April 2008 following extensive political violence in Kenya.
Corporal punishment in schools continues, though physical abuse was outlawed in 2001, and a legal notice specifically prohibits corporal punishment in schools. In interviews carried out in 2007, pupils described to Human Rights Watch how some teachers cane children, while others resort to different forms of physical punishment; some children have suffered lasting injuries.
The letter also urges the new government ministers to provide training, raise awareness, and institute programs that better monitor teachers and others responsible for or working with children; and to ensure compliance with the ban on corporal punishment. It calls on the government to “take a lead in implementing the recommendations of the UN Study on Violence against Children, and for that purpose, set up a task force to develop and implement a national strategy or plan of action on ending violence against children.”
The UN Secretary-General’s Study on Violence against Children, presented to the UN General Assembly in October 2006, was welcome by the previous Kenyan government, which hosted a regional launch in 2007. However, Kenya has failed to take any meaningful steps to implement the study’s recommendations. The government should make it a priority to end violence against children whether in the home, school or elsewhere, five human rights ... more -
Singaporean armpit sniffer gets jail and cane
A Singapore man with a penchant for sniffing women's armpits was sentenced to 14 years in jail and 18 strokes of the cane for molesting his victims, a local newspaper reported on Friday. A Singapore man with a penchant for sniffing women's armpits was sentenced to 14 years in jail and 18 strokes of the cane for mol... more
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If you were spanked as a child you probably love it as an adult
Researchers have found that individuals who were spanked as children are more likely to partake in rough, masochistic sex as adults.
So, if you're into kinky sex, you can thank Mom and Dad. Researchers have found that individuals who were spanked as children are more likely to partake in rough, masochistic sex as adults. ... more -
'Teddy bear' teacher charged with insulting Islam
This is outrageous. The British teacher who allowed a teddy bear to be named Mohamed was charged with insulting Islam and inciting hatred, sparking outrage and a potentially explosive diplomatic row with Sudan. She is due to appear in an Islamic court today. The alleged crime is punishable by 40 lashes, a six-month jail sentence and a fine. The foreign secretary will tell the Sudanese ambassadors that corporal punishment is totally unacceptable. "Britain is reviewing its options for retaliatory measures against Khartoum should Ms Gibbons be hurt. These could include the expulsion of Sudanese diplomats, tightening travel restrictions on the regimes leading figures and cutting aid." Islamic militants in Sudan are calling for mass demonstrations in Sudan... the situation could get out of control
This story has exploded into a diplomatic battle. What do you think about this? This is outrageous. The British teacher who allowed a teddy bear to be named Mohamed was charged with insulting Islam and inciting hat... more
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