In Texas?
80(R) HB 379 – Introduced version – Bill Text:
(b)��A school district employee or a volunteer or independent contractor of a district may not administer corporal punishment or cause corporal punishment to be administered to a student.
But wouldn’t that make us all wimps?
Texas Ed: Comments on Education from Texas 
You know, I find this interesting. I, and many others I talked to, thought corporal punishment in schools was already illegal. Until I talked to my Uncle this T-giving. He works in a school district up near FW where they still give swats.
Does it make “us” wimps? I don’t know, “they” are already wimps, IMHO;)
Comment by christy — December 27, 2006 @ 10:21 am
I really don’t get corporal punishment. Yes, I was spanked as a child and as an adult am generally able to function in society. However, I don’t see the point in school. When it’s done in the older grades, especially high school, it’s simply a sign of defiance and a badge of honor for the receiving student. In one high school I attended, you had a choice between a swat or detention. Everyone took the swat since these kids generally didn’t have any respect for the administration to begin with and it only reinforced their opinion of it. I think the kids would have suffered more if they had to stay after school and get their parents to pick them up.
As for younger kids, I really think it teaches that you can hit someone because you’re bigger than them. I don’t think people realize how much kids really pick up on the inconsistencies of what adults say and do. When my son was about two or three, he wouldn’t stay in his bed at night when it was bedtime. I sat in bed with him to keep him there and at one point, slapped his foot after he stuck it out of bed for the fifth time. It was the first time I had ever hit him and his reaction was immediate, “Mom, we don’t hit!” I can’t begin to tell you the impression it made on me to hear those words I had said to him so many times coming back at me as an accusation.
Comment by texased — December 27, 2006 @ 8:30 pm
A “Good stern whoopin'”?? Shouldn’t YOUR name be “Texas ed?
Comment by Tarvy — January 10, 2010 @ 6:29 pm
texased,
You seem to be one of those people that are hypersensative. I agree with you on your point of swats in upper levels of education, but i feel that a good stern whoopin is a great thing for a child. The children these days have nothing to fear, since CPS arrives on all campuses and give out business cards and instructs them that if they are “beat” then the child should contact
CPS. What a joke and a waste of tax payer money. How about the occasional ass whoopin, you and I both got whoop and look we turned out fine. In the words of the great Martha Stewart, “It’s a good thing!!!”.
Comment by manes — January 16, 2007 @ 3:27 pm
Hypersensitive? Maybe. But if the only way you can get through to a kid is by smacking him, should that kid even be in a regular classroom? And is it fair to the kids who could get “the message” through other means to use corporal punishment because that’s the only thing that works for some kids?
As for CPS, I haven’t heard of them going into the schools and handing out business cards. And as a homeschooler I’m naturally wary of their possible intrusion into my family. However, I also live in a city that has witness the death of multiple children by abuse in the past year or so because there weren’t enough CPS workers to manage the caseload. I seriously doubt that they are passing out business cards in San Antonio.
Comment by texased — January 16, 2007 @ 8:18 pm
Corporal Punishment done properly is really the only answer to the out of control discipline problem in today’s public schools. If God advocates it, then doesn’t that make us fools for not allowing it (“spare the rod, spoil the child”). To “spoil” means to ruin and ruin our kids in today’s society we have. Kids are disrespectful, defiant, disobedient and violant. Since prayer and punishment were taken out of schools, we now have kids killing kids, kids killing teachers, and pretty much running amok. And some have the nerve to say, “why doesn’t God do something”? The truth is this; kids will respond to pain. A good old fashioned swat with a paddle stings like crazy. It leaves an impression. They don’t like it. I got one paddling in school in the 3rd grade. I’m 43 years old and I’ve never forgotten it. Not just the sting but the feeling of humiliation that wen along with it. It didn’t scar me physically or emotionally. In fact, I had no marks save a pink spot that lasted about an hour, but it made a lasting impression on me and it strongly encouraged me to obey my teacher from then on. I never needed another one. If corporal punishment was re-instituted in schools with the requirement of a witness or two to be present, I think we would begin to see our schools discipline and violence problem turn around. It has to start in elementary school! As it stands, teachers have almost no power to discipline and they’r going to end up being a scarce luxury if our society continues to decline at the rate that it is. With things like they are I would never consider being a teacher.
Comment by D.J. Womack — January 17, 2007 @ 7:07 pm
I see nothing wrong with corporal punishment in high schools. The high school I attended only a few years ago had a paddle in most class rooms. Either on the teacher’s desk or hanging on the wall. The sight of the paddle served as a reminder to any student, male or female that if they were a little too tardy or cheeky they would soon wind up out in the hall getting a few swats on the backside. I was a cheerleader and honor student and the few times that I got out of line I was paddled and it made a lasting impression believe me and I feel it made me a better person in the long run.
Comment by Penny — February 3, 2007 @ 8:49 am
I think it should be left up to the principal and the parents. Anybody else needs to bud out.
Comment by Doug — February 20, 2007 @ 6:14 pm
Sorry, too simple and too sensible of a solution 😉
Comment by texased — February 25, 2007 @ 10:53 am
I grew up spending grade 6 thru 9 in Texas, and I got in plenty of mischief in middle school. The VP could sure hit hard with that paddle. I think I got something like 36 “licks” in the 8th grade, my personal best.
The VP had to call parents for permission the first time. My dad told him to “lay it on him!” My dad could get his belt off in about .29 seconds too. I would get whooped when I deserved it, and at no other time.
Looking back, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I raised a boy the same way, and he grew up just fine too.
There is a reason the Bible says to “spare the rod and spoil the child.” It works!
Comment by SteveInSanDiego — January 14, 2008 @ 8:30 pm
We give students grades 9-12 an option of taking corporal punishment instead of D-hall for tardies. Interestingly, most students (boys and girls) choose a paddling. At the same time tardies are significantly down since instituting this policy. I think optional paddling is these grades makes sense and works very well.
Comment by Sarah S — July 30, 2008 @ 2:03 pm
Thank Jesus I wasn’t born in Texas. I don’t get half the stuff that goes on down here and I probably never will, just like I’m sure people here won’t get half the stuff we do in my home. Let me add another opinion atleast. To me, Corpral punishment is reactionary extremity for people too afraid to break traditional means. I think we all know that there are lots of other ways to correct our children other than beating them to death. In schools, there’s afterschool detention, suspension, community service, all kinds of ways to get kids to learn from their mistakes. That’s how they raised me and there were no problems with it, I went to a public school by the way. So why do we beat our kids? Am I missing something? Is hitting your kids supposed to be fun? Is it an honorable legacy we pass down? I would personally prefer to live in a world where we avoid violence and humiliation, but I’m probably wasting my time.
Comment by Jack — August 27, 2008 @ 4:07 am
Crazy Confederate paddle-handlers… But still… ‘Tis Texas.
Comment by Tarvy — January 10, 2010 @ 6:32 pm