Twenty-Two States in the U.S. allow Corporal Punishment in school. Every industrialized country in the world now prohibits school corporal punishment, except the U.S. and Australia (Outback regions only).
Plano TX School Board set to ban corporal punishment January 16 2006. One of the nation's largest school districts is voting to ban corporal punishment. The district schools had not used corporal punishment in some time. "It's important to get it off the books," said Nadine Block, Director of the Center for Effective Discipline, a non-profit organization which provides information about effects of corporal punishment and alternatives. "Even if corporal punishment is not used in practice, it is important to reflect that in policy, she said, Otherwise, practice could easily change with new administrators." (Dallas Morning News, January 16). For further information, contact info@stophitting.org
The fact remains, corporal punishment causes emotional as well as physical damage, which if not resolved through a healing process specifically focused on the aftereffects of physical violence, the damage continues to plague the person for a lifetime. Hitting, paddling, smacking, whacking, bopping, or any form of physical assault against a child is violence, because the act violates the child’s sacred body boundaries.
Furthermore, when a parent or other authority figure, whom the child is totally dependent on, uses corporal punishment, the child is betrayed in the worst way possible. “I love you, therefore, I hit you,” “I am doing it for your own good,” is hypocrisy. It is hypocrisy because love/concern and hitting (hurting) can not co-exist simultaneously. It is hypocrisy because the same act against an adult is considered assault and battery and the perpetrator is subject to arrest and possible jail sentence. Why then, when so much is at stake, do we assault our children when we protect adults from the same violent act? The answer is quite simple.
Dr. Frank Putnam of the National Institute of Mental Health and Dr. Martin Teicher of Harvard Medical School studied 170 girls, 6-15 years old—half had experienced corporal punishment, half had not—for seven years. The girls who experienced corporal punishment had symptoms such as abnormally high stress hormones, which can kill neurons in brain areas crucial for thinking and memory, and high levels of an antibody that weakens the immune system.
Teicher completed a series of brain studies on 402 children and adults, many of whom experienced corporal punishment. His findings revealed that corporal punishment creates arrested growth of the left hemisphere of the brain which can hamper development of language and logic and arrested growth of the right hemisphere of the brain (the site for emotions) at an abnormally early age.
The AMA and APA ignore these studies. Why do the AMA and APA ignore these studies and other noted researchers’ work—for example: Judith Herman, M.D? The answer lies within the denial theory—if we don’t believe it, it can’t hurt us. The irony is “Facts do no cease to exist because they are ignored,” and the tragic results follow.
The tragic results are:
• Children whose parents or other authority figures use corporal punishment to correct unacceptable behavior show more antisocial behavior over a long period of time, regardless of race and socioeconomic status, and regardless of whether the mother provides cognitive stimulation and emotional support (Gunnoe & Mariner, 1997; Kazdin, 1987; Patterson, DeBaryshe, & Ramsey, 1989; Straus, Sugarman, & Giles-Sims, 1997).
• Adults who were hit as children are more likely to be depressed or violent themselves (Berkowitz, 1993; Strassberg, Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 1994; Straus, 1994; Straus & Gelles, 1990; Straus & Kantor, 1992).
• The more a child is hit, the more likely the child, when an adult, will hit his or her children, spouse, or friends (Julian & McKenry, 1993; Straus, 1991; Straus, 1994; Straus & Gelles, 1990; Straus & Kantor, 1992; Widom, 1989; Wolfe, 1987).
• Corporal punishment increases the probability of children assaulting the parent in retaliation, when they are older (Brezina, 1998).
• Corporal punishment sends a message that violence is a viable option for solving problems (Straus, Gelles, & Steinmetz, 1980; Straus, Sugarman, & Giles-Sims, 1997).
• Corporal punishment is degrading, contributes to feelings of helplessness and humiliation, robs a child of self-worth and self-respect, and can lead to withdrawal, aggression, mental and physical dysfunctions (Sternberg et al., 1993; Straus, 1994).
• Corporal punishment destroys trust between parent and child, and increases the risk of child abuse; as a discipline measure, it simply does not decrease children's aggressive or delinquent behaviors (Straus, 1994).
• Children who are spanked regularly are more likely over time to cheat or lie, be disobedient at school, bully others, and show less remorse for wrongdoing (Straus, Sugarman, & Giles-Sims, 1997).
• Corporal punishment adversely affects children's cognitive development. Children who are spanked perform poorly on school tasks compared to other children (Straus & Mathur, 1995; Straus & Paschall, 1998).
By : Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD
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