Schools Taking the Paddle Out of Discipline : Education: But some principals still view corporal punishment as more effective than any lecture.

Susan Trippett was alarmed when her 10-year-old son brought home a detention notice with the words “Corporal Punishment” printed at the bottom.

She called principal Dan Hinkle and told him he could not paddle Timothy. But Hinkle told her he could--and the law said so.

“If corporal punishment were used as a first alternative instead of a last, that would resolve a lot of problems earlier,” said Hinkle, principal of the elementary school in Jane Lew, W.Va.

But the tide is against Hinkle and others who would not spare the rod.

A bill introduced last year in Congress by Rep. Major R. Owens (D-N.Y.), would prohibit corporal punishment in all schools that receive federal funds.

In recent months, the Maryland and Washington legislatures voted to join 22 other states banning corporal punishment in public schools. Nine other states may follow suit, said Nadine Block, coordinator of the National Coalition to Abolish Corporal Punishment in the Schools, which is based in Columbus, Ohio.

The upshot? Elementary and secondary schools surveyed by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights reported about 614,000 instances of corporal punishment in 1990--down from 1.5 million in 1980.

Even in states that allow the practice, educators are often inhibited by the threat of lawsuits or criminal prosecution.

In Texas, which, with Arkansas, has the highest rate of paddling, 26 principals have been investigated by prosecutors or grand juries in the last five years, said Brad Duggan, director of the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Assn. in Austin.

In every case, charges were dropped or the principals were acquitted because they had followed the policies of their local boards, Duggan said. Still, Duggan warns his members that paddling is not “prudent.”

“While you win the case, it’s hard to handle the allegations that you have abused a child,” he said. “It distracts from your other educational goals.”

Opponents of paddling also cite government statistics that indicate punishments are unevenly applied--that black children are more than twice as likely to be paddled as white students; boys are paddled more than four times as often as girls; the disabled, poor and young are punished more often.

“It hurts the schools,” said Jimmy Dunne, a former teacher who founded People Opposed to Paddling Students in Houston.

“It makes kids more aggressive, more likely to fight, and go out and vandalize the schools. They hate school, so there are more dropouts and lower test scores,” Dunne said.

Irwin Hyman, a professor of school psychology at Temple University in Philadelphia and author of “Reading, Writing and the Hickory Stick,” said children who are paddled or are threatened with paddling may develop a fear of school, nightmares, bed-wetting, stomachaches or headaches.

Corporal punishment can get children to stop an unwanted behavior for a short time, he said, “but that doesn’t teach learning or different behaviors.”

“Positive reinforcement is the most effective motivator,” he said.

Still, many educators say such research contradicts their experience.

“Today we have drugs, violence and teachers being beat up. Twenty years ago we didn’t have to spend a penny for security guards in schools,” said Richard W. Miller, director of the Congress of Houston Teachers in Texas.

“I taught 34 years in high school. I coached 15 years. As far as I’m concerned, the old ways are still the best,” Miller said.

Some psychologists also maintain that young children understand swift, nonverbal punishment better than a lecture.

Focus on the Family, an evangelical Christian group based in Colorado Springs, Colo., and led by child psychologist James C. Dobson, counsels families and teachers that spanking is appropriate for children who have committed acts of “willful disobedience or blatant defiance of authority.”

“At an elementary-school level, it can be useful if administered fairly and with consistency, but it isn’t appropriate at a junior or high school level,” said spokesman John Perrodin.

The law in West Virginia, as in many states, restricts paddling with the intention of preventing abuse by teachers. Schools also must attempt to notify parents a day before the paddling is administered.

But the law does not require parents’ permission, as Trippett found out last October when her son and another boy were assigned detention for fighting.

Trippett came from New Jersey, where corporal punishment had been outlawed for more than a century. When she read the punishment form, and saw that paddling was allowable, she was appalled.

“I don’t see how they can paddle a child in the schools if Child Protective Services can investigate you for child abuse if there’s a red mark on your child’s face. So how can they use a paddle if you can’t even use your hands?” she said.

Though her son was never threatened with paddling, Trippett told Hinkle she would pick up the third-grader and his records. She would not allow him to remain in a school where he could be hit.

But Hinkle had Trippett arrested for disturbing the school. A magistrate ordered her not to communicate with her son’s teacher or go on school grounds; she decided to plead no contest and paid a small fine in January because she feared the cost of a jury trial.

Hinkle said he has not used corporal punishment at his school for two years. He said paddling children is his “least favorite” job, but it is the only effective form of discipline for some students.

Also, many parents want him to paddle their children, especially if the alternative is several days’ suspension, he said.

According to Hinkle, some students prefer a paddling too.

“There was a boy who was suspended at the high school level on 10 separate occasions. I paddled that boy once and I never had any more trouble out of him,” he said. “Four years later, he thanked me for paddling him when nobody else even cared.”

Trippett’s son, Timothy, said the threat of a paddling probably does make students behave. But, he said, all of the students think Hinkle is “mean” and most are afraid of him. And a few boys brag that if the principal tries to paddle them, “they’ll punch him,” he said.