Alabama school board members take steps to finally get rid of corporal punishment

Gordon Hurd
Corporal punishment — paddling or spanking — is still legally allowed in a number of states in America. Alabama ranks third in the nation in use of physical discipline in its schools. (Photo: Getty Images)
Corporal punishment — paddling or spanking — is still legally allowed in a number of states in America. Alabama ranks third in the nation in use of physical discipline in its schools. (Photo: Getty Images)

As of 2016, 19 states in America still allow corporal punishment — often using a paddle — of its school children. Alabama school officials have officially decided to leave the ranks of those schools. As reported by AL.com, the Alabama Association of School Boards voted this past Thursday to change the group’s position from “discouraging” to “prohibiting” the use of paddling of students by local school boards.

Despite the change in language, the vote this week merely formulated an official position statement. There is no requirement or mechanism to actually enforce the prohibition of physical force on students in Alabama. But the voting members hope that their position will encourage lawmakers to take on the work needed to legally prohibit corporal punishment in Alabama schools. State law currently allows local school boards to determine whether to use these disciplinary measures. According to data collected in 2013–2014, 107 out of 133 school districts in Alabama exercised physical force on its students during that school year.

Despite the widespread banning of paddling and other forms of physical punishment in most of the U.S., not to mention 49 other developed countries around the world, 19 states allow this practice legally, among them Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas, Georgia. Alabama paddled 19,000 students in the 2013–2014 school year. The state ranks third in use of paddling in its schools.

There are few studies that prove that physical punishment improves student behavior. Child advocacy and medical organizations make strong cases to explicitly ban the practice — many noting the racial disparities and higher incidence of children with disabilities receiving corporal punishment as proof of the inefficacy of paddling. According to the National Education Association, physical punishment in schools is “more than ineffective — it is harmful.”

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