Platform : ‘Approach Students in a More Respectful Way’

Although banned in California’s public schools, other states do allow students to be physically disciplined. Voices asked some Southern California residents whether the practice is an answer to behavior problems or outmoded and improper.

JOHN O’LOONEY

Teacher of visually impaired children in the Oxnard Elementary School District and a representative of the California Teachers Assn.

What we need to do is teach conflict management and behavior management starting in kindergarten and preschool. If the emphasis is put on that, we don’t need to be swatting people and knocking them upside the head.

When you have severely emotionally disturbed children, when you have children with attention deficit disorders, when you have children with emotional problems and they’re being bounced around at home and then we deck them at school, legally and with due process, what we’re saying is that we’re bigger and stronger than you are. We have a society that says violence answers things.

As a Special Ed teacher, I have a chance to be in many teachers’ classrooms, from preschool all the way through high school. What I have seen as an effective teacher’s management is a very consistent, gentle, thorough process.

Have I used physical force breaking up fights in junior high? Yes, I have. And have I been swung upon? Yes, I have. And I have I had to subdue children? Yes, I have for their own protection. But me going out there swinging a 4-by-4, I don’t think would help.

Sister MARY MENEGATTI

Principal of St. Catherine’s Military School, Anaheim

The time is long past for corporal punishment to be an acceptable form of punishment in any school forum. I think in years past, in both the public and private sectors, corporal punishment was acceptable, but you’re talking back 40 or 50 years ago. What has changed is a greater understanding of discipline methods, of what works better. At St. Catherine’s, we stress self-discipline, taking time to calm down and to re-evaluate reactions. Self-discipline is needed not just in school, but in the home, with limitations coming from parents and from school. I don’t think we can expect the school system to rectify all the problems of society. We need limits, certainly, from all of society.

BARBARA TYE

Professor of secondary education at Chapman University, Orange

The violence in the schools isn’t in the schools. It’s the reflection of a violent society. And cracking down on kids is like closing the barn door after the horses have all run away. It’s after the fact. What this society needs to be doing is attending to the needs of children. With one out of every four living in poverty, what kind of a life is that? They come to school without the skills they need to be successful. Put those children in Headstart from coast to coast, and if they have the other services they need--the medical care, the dental care and the tender loving care from parents who know what they’re doing--children are not going to be violent when they reach school. They’re not going to need corporal punishment.

BILL PRICER

President of the Antelope Valley Union High School District trustees, executive director, United Community Action

Network, an anti-gang group

I would like to see it back in a limited form. There are always extremes, but I think with parental permission and guidelines, it is acceptable. I was talking with parents recently who are very wishful that the school had more authority in this area. As a child, I experienced it. It has a deterrent effect because more strongly felt than the pain is the embarrassment. You don’t want to go through it again. We grew up with this form of punishment as a nation and I think there’s something to it. It does have value if closely overseen, with a witness and parental permission. There might be an uprising among some parents, but, for many, it would be a welcome form of correction.

IDA MAE CARTER

President of the Parent Teacher Assn., Compton Unified School District

Some students get quite a bit of corporal punishment in the home, so I think we need to find other techniques. We need to be able to approach students in a more respectful way. We should talk to the students and give them guidance. They need self-esteem classes and tools necessary to become responsible for their actions. There should be standards in the schools for students to abide by if they are to get an effective education. Conferences with parents and students should be a priority to solve problems.

SARA DEVITO HARDMAN

State director of the Christian Coalition of California

It definitely has a place in schools if it’s corporal punishment that isn’t as ominous as corporal punishment sounds, but just a slap on the leg or the hand with a ruler. Our kids in our schools are out of hand. There’s no discipline. It used to be that the worst thing 30 years ago that the teachers said were a problem were throwing spitballs, talking in class or chewing gum. Now it’s abortion, murder, carrying guns and all that sort of thing. Obviously, any thinking person would have to say it’s because of lack of discipline. Corporal punishment should help solve some of the problems, though obviously not 100%.