Should Teachers Hit Kids? Nearly Half Of British Parents Think Yes
In Britain, many parents advocate harsher punishment in schools
Corporal punishment is not allowed in British classrooms (unlike in the U.S. where some schools still allow teachers to paddle children).
In a recent study, nearly half of British parents thought teachers ought to be allowed to cane or switch children who get too out of line. Seriously, nearly half. Forty-nine percent, to be exact. Perhaps unsurprisingly, only nineteen percent of students thought corporal punishment was a good idea.
It’s not an idea teachers support. Teachers unions want more support for teachers in classrooms, and clearer guidance about discipline, but they don’t want to hit kids.
I don’t know what British schools are like, but it’s hard to imagine a classroom situation that could be improved by empowering the teacher to hit the students.
While some government officials are pushing for a relaxation of rules prohibiting corporal punishment, the teacher’s unions are pushing back. The BBC reports:
But the National Union of Teachers said parents may have got the “erroneous impression” from government statements that the classroom was a place of “rowdy and disrespectful behaviour”.
It said teachers needed consistent support from management, along with appropriate sanctions and rewards, “not the right to hit children”.
It seems obvious that what kids need in the classroom is support and guidance, not the fear of violence. I find it disturbing that any adult, let alone half of British parents, would advocate for an educational system that institutionalized violence against children as a discipline tool.
What do you think?
Photo: cogdogblog
oh hell no!
That 19% of kids support corporal punishment doesn’t surprise you? That seems very high.
I don’t hit my kids and will not allow anybody else to do it.
In 19 U.S. States it is legal for school teachers, coaches and administrators to hit students with thick wooden paddles to inflict pain to punish them for minor infractions with no safety standards to protect schoolchildren from injuries, known as Corporal Punishment.
School faculty members are mandatory reporters required by law to report suspected child abuse, yet they are allowed, by law today in 19 U.S. predominantly Southern “Bible Belt” States, to inflict physical Pain as punishment on school children K-12 with legal impunity! Sometimes the pain is administered within earshot of classmates to induce fear, intimidation and humiliation as tools for obedience.
Search “A Violent Education” for disturbing Facts.
Recently, Texas Governor Perry recently signed HB 359 and North Carolina Governor Perdue signed SB 498 Giving Parents the Right to Prohibit Corporal/Physical PAIN as Punishment of Their Children in Schools!
If school teachers, coaches and administrators were to hit students with thick wooden paddles in public, they’d be arrested for assault as would any parent, police officer, lawmaker or U.S. Supreme Court Justice!
In the last week news reports indicate that 2 Shelby County, TN mothers are being charged with Felony child abuse for hitting their children with implements such as belts or shoes, meanwhile, Shelby County schools maintain Corporal Punishment/Pain based behavior management by hitting students with thick wooden paddles as part of their Discipline policy.
School paddling injuries put school districts at risk of lawsuits paid for by taxpayers in the community.
Corporal/Physical Pain as Punishment is Illegal in Schools in 31 U.S. States and All U.S. Prisons!
The National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (“NAPNAP”) has issued an official position statement calling for widespread education about the harmful effects of corporal punishment. In the statement, issued on June 25, 2011, the Association takes a direct stance in opposition to corporal punishment in the home as well as in schools and instead asserts support for “alternative, non-violent, age-appropriate discipline strategies.”
The National Youth Rights Association plans to petition the Federal Government at the White House petition site We the People to abolish corporal punishment of students in ALL U.S. schools.
Please sign the petition to British Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove, asking him to reconsider his decisions about corporal punishment and bringing former members of the armed forces into the classroom.
SIGN THE PETITION AT http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/corporal-punishment-should-not-return-to-british-schools/
Check out free online resources for all child caregivers ”Plain Talk About Spanking” at no spank dot net, sparethekids dot com and dontbeatblackkids dot com.
I grew up in the UK and still read the news from home a lot, plus my sister has 4 kids in school right now. While I don’t advocate corporal punishment, I can see where these parents are coming from. I think British parents feel this way because teachers have been stripped of much of their power when it comes to disciplining students and the students are running riot (literally back in August). The students know teachers can not do anything so they misbehave. Of course, the irony is that it is the parents who have demanded that teachers back off because their children are so “special” and it is not the teacher’s place to tell children what to do. But if these parents taught their children to show respect to all adults, especially teachers, then some schools wouldn’t be in the state they are in.
I was a teacher for several years. I’d rather stick forks in my eyes than be the one who has to whack kids. It might work if you’re a giant guy from the same community the kids come from. But if you’re a 5’3″ white woman in a minority-majority school, it smacks of something else. Ew. Pun not intended. Not to mention if you’re 5’3″ and not a badass, no matter where you work, you fear the parking lot anyway. Parents threatened me for TAKING AWAY TEN MINUTES OF LUNCH. I am not kidding.
Arguing over corporal punishment is a big, fat, waste of time. Then again, that bitch that threatened me over lunch, she was okay with the teacher across the hall who threw staplers at the kids as a classroom management tool. Stupid is as stupid does.
If given a choice, I would have rather opted for swats over detention any day.