1000 ways to
The Hickory Stick
0 & FA
Classroom misbehavior wastes much of the teacher's and pupils' limited time. Is spanking a solution?
Tries
Reversing a trend
of 85 years, many
parents and educators
think a good spanking may get to
the bottom of Johnny's
school problems.
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Disrespect and physical defiance led New Jersey law- Under spanking laws, teachers would be prohibited from
yers to suggest a law giving teachers right to spank. using books and rulers or striking pupils viciously.
Photos by Bill Miller
"The
I he teacher was obviously nervous as
she stood before a county court
judge in Kentucky recently. She
had paddled a 13-year-old pupil after he
threatened to hit her, and the boy's mother
had brought charges of assault and battery.
The judge, after hearing evidence, could
have sentenced the teacher to jail; "that
also would have meant loss of her job.
Instead, he said:
"I'm proud of you. I admire the gump
tion of a teacher who will enforce her
orders. Students these days are too often
pampered. They are given too much lee
way. You did your job well. The charges
are dismissed."
The judge was expressing the sentiment
of an increasing number of experts and
laymen who believe the hickory stick
should be returned to active school duty
and applied where it did Grandpa the most
good or as the St. Louis regulations put
it, "upon the fleshy part of the back."
Corporal punishment was all but buried
in the "sweetness and light" period of
American elementary education beginning
around 1920. But a new attitude has de
veloped with the increasing concern over
rowdy classroom behavior.
In recent polls, corporal punishment
was favored by 55 percent of American
parents, 76 percent of public-school super
intendents, and 77 percent of teachers.
Courts have upheld the teacher's right,
under certain circumstances, to administer
corporal punishment, and in New Jersey,
one of three states banning such discipline,
the legislature has been asked by the state
bar association to restore the rod to teach
ers so they can "guard their rights to
receive the respect due their profession."
If spanking does stage a comeback, how
ever, it will be against heated opposition.
Detroit, for example, recently approved
corporal punishment but only after parents
attending a debate on the subject threat
ened to settle their differences with fists.
Opponents argue that corporal punish-
16
Family Weekly. October 1J, 157
a Comeback
.Jrtojjl. nyan
ment is an invasion of human rights that
merely covers up evils in our system
which cause children to get into trouble
in the first place.
A survey by the National Education
Association shows that teachers think
Johnny is less to blame for the mis
behavior than are lax parents, over
crowded classrooms, and inadequate recre
ational programs. Spanking won't get to
the root of Johnny's problem, they say;
instead, it may make him even more re
sentful of school.
Opponents fear, too, that corporal pun
ishment will find its greatest advocates in
the ineffectual or temperamental teacher
who uses it to compensate for his own
shortcomings in handling children.
In a survey by an educational publica
tion, The Nation's Schools, a Maryland
superintendent reported, "Our school
board does not prohibit corporal punish
ment but thinks the best teachers do not
need to use it." And Dr. Percival M.
Symonds, president of the American Edu
cational Research Association, who has
studied corporal punishment's effects, says
that spanking often is used by a teacher
to satisfy his own needs, not the pupil's,
and may actually inhibit a youngster's
ability to learn.
-the pro side of the debate recognizes
that spanking doesn't correct un
derlying causes of misbehavior such
as poor home training and inadequate
schools. But they feel that the hickory
stick induces mischievous youngsters to
accept authority rather than rebel
against it
The idea was summed up by Britain's
Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, who
defended "caning" by saying, "A good
beating with a cane can have a remarkable
sense of awakening on the mind and con
science of a boy."
Advocates of corporal punishment agree
that spanking is not the best means of
discipline, but they maintain it is the most
expedient under today's conditions. The
crowded classes and teacher shortages
which contribute to misbehavior, they say,
also prevent schools from devoting pre
cious time and money to the few trouble
makers and winning them over with
"sweetness and light" psychology.
An example of the changing attitude of
educators occurred in Ventura, Calif.,
when the board of education considered
hiring a psychiatrist at $1,104 a month for
"problem pupils." The board asked the
county supervisor for his opinion, and lie
replied, "It would be a lot cheaper to hire
switches for the teachers." The board
dropped the subject
Teachers in metropolitan areas have
more than twice the number of "problem
pupils" reported in smaller urban and
rural communities. Yet only one urban
teacher in 20 has the right to administer
corporal punishment; in non-metropolitan
areas 56 percent have this authority and
in rural areas 66 percent
It's debatable whether small-town
teachers have better-behaved classes be
cause they can spank, but nearly half the
big-city teachers feel they'd have less
trouble if they could march Johnny to the
woodshed occasionally.
Courts uphold the teacher's right to
paddle up to a point In one case
a boy, slapped by a teacher, was
bruised on his head and neck. Charged
with assault and battery, the teacher
proved the youth had been a constant
troublemaker and had disrupted a school
assembly with foul language. The court
found the teacher's actions justified.
On the other hand, an Arkansas teacher
was found guilty of the same charge for
twice whipping a 15-year-old boy for a
: nITArn Ttia nnninlimant UMG DV.
cessive, the court held.
Pro-spanking teachers want restrictions
on corporal punishment to prevent such
abuses. They believe a definite code should
be followed to protect the pupil against
too-frequent spankings, maltreatment, and
intemperate teachers.
Cincinnati has a set of regulations which
shows how such a code might work. When
Johnny constantly misbehaves, his teacher
reports him to the principal, who decides
on spanking only as "a last resort."
The principal or an aide administers the
spanking only "with the palm of his hand
or a broad paddle." A witness must be
present, and the principal must report the
action to the administrative department
The regulations warn against malice and
unreasonable force; spanking is prohibited
"at a time when the person administering
it is angered or impassioned."
Such limits on corporal punishment,
advocates say, prevent a spanking from
leaving the student with any aftereffects
other than the impression he would be
better off cooperating with his elders.
That's a lesson that should be taught at
Father's knee, both teachers and super
intendents agree. Usually it is. But when
it isn't, most of them believe the rod
should be added to education's "three r's."
Family Weekly. October 11, 1957 IT
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