A state senator, Phil Journey, from Kansas is about to introduce a bill that would permit teachers to spank kids who need an extra dose of discipline. The bill is designed to protect school districts and their employees from lawsuits, according to a recent Kansas City Star article. It also requires parents to sign permission forms allowing schools to spank their child.
Journey’s bill is in response to a number of newspaper articles regarding the frustration of teachers from the difficulties in maintaining classroom discipline. He simply wants to give teachers another tool to use for maintaining order in the classroom while avoiding lawsuits over the use of corporal punishment.
Twenty-nine states have banned corporal punishment in schools. Kansas is not one of them. Of those that have not banned such punishment, nine have passed bills that grant the kind of protection Journey is seeking for Kansas.
Opponents of the bill just don’t believe spanking is all that effective. Some argue that modeling behavior that we don’t want children to exhibit will only worsen the situation. All said, I’m betting on the bill not passing.
I have an unusual background in this issue. When I was seven years old I was spanked by my teacher. This was back in the days when a teacher had the ultimate authority over a child. To say that I was simply spanked would be simplifying the issue. I carried the bruises on my backside for almost an entire week.
Now I am a teacher and am in charge of a 2nd grade classroom. I do not approve of spanking in most cases. It would however be simplifying the issue to say that it is never the appropriate punishment. I've seen students (yes 2nd grade) steal, cheat, cuss out teachers, destroy car windows and other things that would have a child in the principal's office when I was a student. The parents have told me, "kids will be kids," when I have informed them of the child's behavior. There are times that I think spanking should indeed be brought back, but it seems the parents need it more than the kids.