Republicans Condone Child Abuse by Paddling Kids in School

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Police investigate Florida principal seen on video paddling 6-year-old student

Police in Florida are investigating an elementary school principal who was filmed last month hitting a 6-year-old student with a wooden paddle. David Begnaud has the details.

 

Mom claims school paddling left son with severe bruises

 

Video of School Spanking in a Jasper County Georgia School Re-Ignites Debate Over Corporal Punishment in Schools

A Georgia mother’s video of school administrators apparently paddling her 5-year-old son has sparked social media discussion on the merits of corporal punishment. Shana Perez of Covington posted the video of the principal and assistant principal trying to spank the boy. The little 5 year old boy can be heard yelling “help me mommy”.

She admits she gave permission for her son to be paddled, but asserted she did so to avoid going to jail.

 

As shown in this map, 19 states ran by REPUBLICAN administrations allows paddling in schools; Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.

Corporal punishment’s strong support in the South seems to be rooted in a number of cultural factors, including a strict interpretation of the Bible, a conservative approach to law and order, and the legacy of using of violence to control people, as in slavery, said David Finkelhor, who heads the Crimes against Children Research Center and Family Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire.

More than three-dozen countries have banned corporal punishment, part of the spread of human rights advocacy in recent decades.

Child-development researchers say physical punishment for children is misguided since non-physical discipline has been shown to be more effective.

Donald Greydanus, the founding chair of the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at Western Michigan University, said he’s found that many Americans, even when presented with evidence that corporal punishment damages children, prefer to stick with what they’re already doing.

“What I’ve noticed is if you have science that says don’t do this but if your personal beliefs, religious beliefs, what your parents taught you is the opposite, a lot of people will go with the opposite rather than the science,”

This is another example of how Republicans thinking and values are from the past and why they should not be in positions of power, authority or public office.

 

Georgia School Paddling Case Highlights Continued Use of Corporal Punishment

A Georgia mother’s outrage-inducing video of a school principal paddling her 5-year-old son sheds light on America’s enduring – but slowly fading – affinity for corporal punishment. A majority of parents say they approve of spanking kids, although their numbers are declining, public opinion polls show. Most states have banned it at school.

 

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