f
SPANKING WINS
-HANDS DOWN!
Asked whether teachers should paddle unruly pupils, FAMILY WEEKLY
readers voted yes by an overwhelming majority By LESTER DAVID
TO find OUT where its readers stand
on the red-hot issue of corporal pun
ishment in the schools, Family Week
ly recently ran a "spanking poll."
The ballot asked : should teachers be
allowed to spank unruly students? The
readers' overwhelming answer: yes!
. It was almost a throe-to-one victory. Out of
5,277 ballots cast in the poll, 3,812 or 72 percent
were in favor of spanking by teachers. Disap
proval was expressed by 1,381 or 28 percent.
Many persons on both sides took the trouble
to write lout? and thoughtful letters explaining
their views. "Yes" voters argued that ( 1 ) spank
ing gets the point across swiftly and efficiently;
(2) it causes no permanent harm or resentment
but rather generates a new respect for the
teacher; (3 it stops the wild ones from getting
wilder; (1) it keeps in line the unruly ones
whose conduct can cause an entire class to suf
fer; and (5i it often is the only way of handling
chronic offenders.
Teachers themselves reported that spanking
works wonders. Gerald McMullen of Tyler, Tex.,
declared: "In 12 years of teaching, I have not
seen u student who was not helped by spanking.
I have taught in schools that did not use spank
ing, and the morale of the students was terrible.
In Tyler, we have a very fine school system
and we spank!"
Many teachers reported that spanking, often
just once, brought about dramatic improvement.
Mrs. Isabella M. Coffee of Haldwin, Ga., told
about a fourth-grade girl who was "an unholy
terror." One day, Mrs. Coffee had enough. She
marched the olfendcr into a cloakroom and
spanked hard. For live months thereafter, the
youngster was a model child; and on the last day
of school, she whispered shyly: "Mrs. Coffee, I
just want to tell you that you're the best teacher
1 ever had."
A number of parents who themselves were
spanked in school stoutly maintained that the
experience was a good one. Hetty Jane Tuttle of
Pasco, Wash., asserted: "The stick, ruler, and
razor strop were no strangers when I was grow
ing up. They were used by parents and teacher.
I feel they did me more good than harm."
And an Ashland, Ore., youth wrote: "I have
gotten better grades since the principal at our
school gave me a couple of good whacks for
getting out of hand."
A sizable percentage of pro-spankers believes
there is a clear link between the abandonment
of the paddle in schools and the upsurge in juve
nile crime. County Attorney James L. Sontag of
Nowata, Okla., expressed deep concern. He wrote :
"I am faced each day with juveniles and adults
who have not been taught respect or discipline
in the home or school. The teachers in both places
failed to use the 'instrument' designed to teach
these basic subjects."
Over and over, parents as well as teachers
stressed that positive appeals should be tried
first and spanking used only as a last resort.
Nevertheless, many agreed that the time can
come when swift and sharp whacks are the only
means left. Mrs. Charlotte Webb of Largo, Fla.,
declared: "After 35 years as a teacher, I am
convinced that it is the only effective method
with a child who is a habitual class disturber."
rpilKSK PROBLEM ONES, readers wrote, can cause
JL infinite harm. As Mrs. Ruby Mink of Pitts
lield. III., said: "If they are allowed to get away
repeatedly with misbehavior, the whole class loses
its respect for the teacher." J. L. McNeal of
New Kllenton, S.C., agreed and added that class
room uuruliness can spread like a raging epi
demic, and then nobody learns anything.
In vigorous disagreement were many parents,
teachers, public officials, and students who de
nounced corporal punishment in schools. They
argued that (1 1 spanking simply does not do the
job it's supposed to do; (2) it can and does cause
more problems than it solves; (3) it is a parental
responsibility that must not be abdicated to the
schools; and (4) good teachers can find other
ways of handling unruly students.
The uselessness of spanking was stressed re
peatedly. Mrs. Vincent Reale of Margate, N.J.,
a mother of six, contended: "It has been my ex
perience both in childhood and adult life that
those youngsters who were most severely pun
ished did not become more respectful or less
destructive they just became more adept at
not getting caught!"
Many readers were convinced that spanking
can cause real harm. As Mrs. Robert M. Edwards
of Marion, Ohio., put it: "I cannot conceive of
a student learning very much from a teacher
whom he fears and resents."
More than a few adult readers wrote of their
own unhappy experiences. City Judge Virgil VV.
Burgess of Champaign, III., said he was "spanked,
slapped, and struck with rulers" as a boy. "I
have forgiven but not forgotten the humiliation
and resentment that still linger," he said.
Youngsters by the score echoed this state
ment from a 13-year-old student in Fay
etteville, N.C.: "Spanking does not help a thing.
It only makes things worse. I know, I'm
scared to death of my teachers. You should feel
friendly and secure in school, not scared."
Repeatedly, "no" voters hammered at the theme
that if strong measures are needed with a young
ster, parents must do the job. Marine Sgt. George
J. Marshall of Santa Ana, Calif., said: "Lack of
discipline in the home is the worst form of child
neglect ... It is not the job of the teachers and
principals to try to correct the mistakes and
failures of the parents."
Spanking opponents listed these alternatives
to the rod: isolation, extra homework, sending
an offender home, special classes presided over
by disciplinarians, expulsion in extreme cases.
Mrs. Robert T. Kerr of Claremont, Calif.,
summed up the feeling of the "don't spank"
voters this way: "It cannot work. A child who
sits quietly in a classroom because he fears a
spanking learns nothing. His education is mean
ingless. The problems which caused his unruly
behavior are ignored and will only become mani
fest in some other area. An unruly child needs
guidance, not a beating."
10
FVimily Week IVrcttifrrr ??. I9fi.l