Corporal punishment, or paddling, has been outlawed in schools for years now. You may remember the days when, if you misbehaved in a classroom you would surely get a paddling. It could be embarrassing, but you would most certainly think twice before committing the same infraction ever again.
Many parents of this new era don’t believe in paddling, or spanking children to improve behavior or to teach a lesson. So, it was part of the natural order that the practice would be outlawed in the classroom.
However, one Georgia school has decided to reinstate the punishment. Their doing so is legal because parents must give consent. The charter school says that one-third of the parents have given approval for their children to receive a paddling as punishment.
The students will be given a three-strike policy, meaning the children will be given two behavior warnings before they are paddled.
The punishment will be meted out by an administrator in a closed room with another adult supervising.
“At this school, we take discipline very seriously,” says Superintendent, Jody Boulineau. “It’s just one more tool we have in our disciplinary tool box,” he says.
The form states that students will be required to ‘place their hands on their knees or piece of furniture and will be struck on the buttocks’. No more than three strikes will be administered, and parents will be notified before the punishment is given.
Boulineau says he believes this type of punishment should never have been removed from schools. He maintains that there are many more discipline problems as a result. Paddling as a form of corporal punishment, however, is still legal in Georgia and nineteen other states.
Would you give consent for your child to receive a paddling at school?
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