Public schools in 21 states still hit kids - and black students are disproportionately affected
Shutterstock
Hitting, spanking, paddling, or other forms of corporal punishment also disproportionately affected African-American students, who comprise 38% of those who were physically disciplined, despite making up just 22% of all students who attend schools that allow the practice.
White students, meanwhile, make up 50% of those physically disciplined, but comprise 60% of students enrolled.
The report also noted a distinct lack of policies and procedures that guide schools and staff on when, how, and how severely to physically punish kids.
While certain schools use stricter policies that specify the size of a paddle or the number of spanking strikes that can be used on students, no broad consensus has emerged among districts or states regarding how many times or how hard a child should be struck, or how staff should be trained to do so.
"I've been (using the paddle) a long time and I don't know that I've ever seen anyone offer training," Tennessee superintendent Daryl Scoggin told Education Week. "It's kind of like, I had it done to me, and so I knew what I needed to do. I guess it's more that you learn by watching."
Parental consent, too, varies between states, Education Week found. While some states, such as Utah, require parents' written permission for physical discipline, others, including Texas, allow the practice unless parents specifically opt out.
Using the most recent data available from the Civil Rights Data Collection, Education Week found that Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, and Oklahoma were the states that used corporal punishment the most.
Education Week even found that some schools reported physically punishing students, even in states that barred the practice - although it's unclear whether those numbers were incorrectly reported.
The federal education department also has no policy prohibiting K-12 schools from using physical discipline - those laws are left to the states. But the government has been encouraging schools through its "ReThink Discipline" initiative to emphasize safety and supportiveness in their discipline practices, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
"The Department of Education strongly believes that states have the power to change," Deputy Assistant Secretary Tanya Clay House told AP. "We know that the use of corporal punishment tends to be intertwined with other factors, such as a child's race or disability status."
- CEO says he tried to hire an AI researcher from Meta, and was told to 'come back to me when you have 10,000 H100 GPUs'
- We bought a house in Japan for $30,000. We'll have more land than we could afford in the US, and our kids will be more independent.
- Rumors Prince William is having an affair with Rose Hanbury are flooding social media again after Stephen Colbert waded into 'Katespiracy'
- Businesses should not be built on model, but out of passion: Peyush Bansal
- Delhi world's most polluted capital, Begusarai top polluted metro says IQAir
- COVID-19 vaccine can slash risk of post-infection heart failure by half, study finds
- Stock markets close higher in volatile trade ahead of key Fed policy meeting
- 10 Must do activities in Kodaikanal on your next trip