In Texas, opposition to paddling grows

[rawstory]

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STILL SWINGING
Opposition to paddling grows
By PARIS ACHEN
Houston Chronicle

WHEN JIMMY DUNNE was a math teacher at Houston's Black Middle School in the early 1960s, paddling was the customary way to punish a student's unruly behavior.

"I paddled students, but I started thinking, why am I doing this when I don't do it at home?" said Dunne, now president of People Opposed to Paddling Students, a Houston-area group formed in 1982. "I noticed some teachers were getting a sadistic pleasure out of hitting kids, so I stopped after a couple of years."

Dunne's group and national organizations, such as the U.S. chapter of End Physical Punishment of Children, have been leading a campaign to abolish corporal punishment at schools in the United States.

So far, about 28 states have banned the practice in public schools because of the potential for abuse and lawsuits. Yet Texas continues to lead the nation with nearly 75,000 students paddled in 2000, according to a survey by the Ohio-based Center for Effective Discipline.

In Harris County, more than half of the school districts continue to paddle students or have a policy that allows it.

Overall, federal statistics show that Southern states have the most incidents of corporal punishment. By percentage of students paddled, Texas ranks about seventh in the nation. Mississippi and Arkansas were No. 1 and 2 in the country, respectively.

Some people interpret verses in Proverbs in the Old Testament as a biblical endorsement of corporal punishment, according to Irwin Hyman, author of The Case Against Spanking.

"The Bible Belt is where it still happens," Hyman said. "Children are most likely to be hit where there is religious fundamentalism."`

Yet Hyman, who is also a professor of school psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia, said there's no scientific evidence that it works.

There's "just anecdotal evidence of people who say, `I was hit, and I turned out all right,' " he said. "The only benefit is immediate, short-term behavioral change. It doesn't teach anything except that might makes right."

But paddling proponents said they believe corporal punishment teaches students respect for authority and is a needed tool for disciplining and keeping order in the classroom.

"Teaching respect is just as important as reading, writing and math because authority is part of life," said Marvin Munyon, president of Wisconsin Capitol Watch, a nonprofit group that lobbies for what it sees as Judeo-Christian values.

Full story: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2628997

[Moderator]

1. Duplicate - also, excerpt is too long. Please keep to 4 paragraphs

Thanks

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