These days, corporal punishment in public schools occurs mostly in rural and small-town districts in five Southern states:
Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.
That’s the research finding of three University of Louisiana at Lafayette graduate students and two faculty members. It appears in “Teachers College Record,” a peer-reviewed journal published by Teachers College at Columbia University. Teachers College is the oldest and largest graduate school of education in the United States.
“Corporal Punishment in Southern Schools: Good News, Bad News, and News That’s Pretty Ugly,” is the work of Jessie Broussard, Twyla Williams and Mary Broussard, while they were graduate students. All earned doctorates in May. Dr. Richard Fossey and Dr. Robert Slater, both professors of education, were co-authors.
The good news is that paddling students has sharply declined in recent years, with 31 states abolishing the practice, they report. Many other states allow corporal punishment in principle but don’t practice it. “In addition, three Southern states that still allow corporal punishment – Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina – have reduced the number of paddings dramatically,” the report states. And, all major cities in the South no longer allow corporal punishment.
The bad news? Data related to corporal punishment is inconsistent and may not reflect all incidents. The ugly news: “According to data collected by state agencies or children’s rights organizations, corporal punishment is actually going up in some school districts – particularly in school districts in rural Georgia and Mississippi,” the report states.