Corporal Punishment in Schools

Corporal punishment is the use of physical punishment as a form of discipline for school children. Corporal punishment is generally associated with spanking, paddling, or whipping, it can also refer to any physical act that causes discomfort to the student. For example, slapping, striking, grabbing, pulling to the ground or out of the classroom, and requiring the student to stay in a physically difficult position are all forms of corporal punishment. Corporal punishment could also include the continuance of strenuous physical activity, for example, running laps around a field. Corporal punishment is used mush more often on poor children, minorities, children with disabilities, and boys. For instance, during the 1998-1999 school year a national antispanking group called for a civil rights audit of students in Alabama and found that 73 percent of the paddling was administered on black students who made up only 41 percent of its total population (Hinchey 4). Schools are the only instituti...