More than 200,000 children were spanked or paddled in U.S. schools

[almaty 19]

CNN) -- More than 200,000 children were spanked or paddled in U.S. schools during the past school year, human rights groups reported Wednesday.

Schools in 21 states can use corporal punishment.

"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."

Corporal punishment in schools remains legal in 21 U.S. states and is used frequently in 13: Missouri, Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida, according to data received from the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education and cited in the report.

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."

Overall, 223,190 students received corporal punishment in 2006-07, according to the Department of Education statistics. That number is down from 342,038 students in 2000-01 as more and more districts abolished corporal punishment. Watch how one Texas family feels about corporal punishment »

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."

Alpine Independent School District Superintendent Jose Cervantes said that both the principal and superintendent have taken other jobs, but for the past several years, the district has had a clear policy allowing parents to sign a waiver form and opt out of corporal punishment.

"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."

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."

Most states typically leave it up to individual districts whether to use corporal punishment, and some of the nation's largest school districts -- among them Houston and Dallas, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; and Mobile County, Alabama -- have banned the practice, according to the report.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

god we are a nation of pussies.

[almaty 19]

i was spanked from kindergarten through the 6th grade..as i was a little chopf##k and the spankings, did not bother me....as i got plenty at home too...

i assume it curbs, some behavior of students, mainly through peerr humilation

[Jenn! 918]

OMG I had no idea that corporal punishment was still legal in some states. When I read the thread title, I thought it was referring to the 70's or something.

Horrible. I'm not against spanking necessarily, but it should be done at home, not at school.

[Ban Hammer 14,291]

OMG I had no idea that corporal punishment was still legal in some states. When I read the thread title, I thought it was referring to the 70's or something.

Horrible. I'm not against spanking necessarily, but it should be done at home, not at school.

how about both?

[Emancipation 2]

tee hee once when I was oh... in grade 2 a kid had an outburst in class and the teacher pulled down his pants in front of the WHOLE class and spanked him.. that was entertaining Not so much for the kid though

Then in like grade 4 some boys had a great idea to throw lawn darts at me and they struck me in the chin with the darts.. They were promptly taken to the principle's office and spanked - Good times

I however; was a child wonder and never got spanked tee hee...

I did once swap all the boots in the boot room so that no one had a matched pair anymore.. I got in a lot of trouble, but no spankings

tee hee...

Now.. if you want to talk abuse, i had a teacher in grade 5 that used to THROW kids over the temporary dividers between our class and the library - the kids would land in a wire rack of books every time.. THAT is abuse ... I was terrified of that teacher.. he was my soccer coach too...

[Mark&Steph 0]

I hardly ever got into trouble at school. Nothing ever serious. I knew if I did, my mother would have my ### on a platter later.

I never got the impression that detention worked either. You see the same kids go in there over and over again and they didn't care.

[almaty 19]

i got my azz busted at school and then again, when i got home for the same offense...it did not change my behavior, in fact, i got a rep. for being a "bad azz" in the 1st grade..and lived up to it through all my school years...

[natty bumppo 297]

i got my azz busted at school and then again, when i got home for the same offense...it did not change my behavior, in fact, i got a rep. for being a "bad azz" in the 1st grade..and lived up to it through all my school years...

bad azz and/or hard azz ?

[Bootylicious!! 2]

Gosh, I can remember when I was little my parents telling my teachers to bust my butt if I acted out. I knew better though because I knew if I got it at school I'd get it at home. I can probably count on both hands the spankings I got growing up. I knew it wasn't something I enjoyed so I was keeping my butt in line so I wouldn't get it busted.

[Amby 490]

I was never disciplined and never really had any rules and I turned out just fine

[almaty 19]

i got my azz busted at school and then again, when i got home for the same offense...it did not change my behavior, in fact, i got a rep. for being a "bad azz" in the 1st grade..and lived up to it through all my school years...

bad azz and/or hard azz ?

lol..both

[Mononoke28 137]

I was spanked at home big time but then again my sister and I were troublemakers and that set us straight.

I did go to Catholic school as a child and my second grade teacher was a very old nun that used to pull our earlobes really hard. One day she did it so hard to one of my classmates that she tore the earring off her earlobe and it wouldn't stop bleeding. Now that's abuse. My sister's nun was easier on them, she would just make them stand up in front of the class with the palms of their hands facing up and then wham!!!! she'd hit them with a ruler three times.

Ahhhh yeah, the good ol' days.

Diana

[Mark&Steph 0]

Gosh, I can remember when I was little my parents telling my teachers to bust my butt if I acted out. I knew better though because I knew if I got it at school I'd get it at home. I can probably count on both hands the spankings I got growing up. I knew it wasn't something I enjoyed so I was keeping my butt in line so I wouldn't get it busted.

Same here. I didn't get very many spankings at home but when I did, they were real doozies that I wasn't likely to forget in the times I'm was poised at the brink of doing something I knew I would get in real trouble for.

Boy, that was a really bad sentence. (I'm my own grammar police)

[Yaads 1]

OMG I had no idea that corporal punishment was still legal in some states. When I read the thread title, I thought it was referring to the 70's or something.

Horrible. I'm not against spanking necessarily, but it should be done at home, not at school.

I didn't realize that it was still legal either! We were never spanked in school as I don't think it was legal to do so even back then in the late 80's. We got spanked on a few occasions at home and it definitely had an impact on us.

I agree though that spanking should be done at home and not in schools. With all the sick preversion that surfaces everyday with teachers/principals and other authority figures in the education system the last thing they need to be doing is having physical contact of that sort with students.