Spanking or striking children in school or corporal punishment should be "abolished in all states by law," according to a revised policy statement of the Council on School Health, which was released on Monday by the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), CNN reported.
Although the practice of physical punishment has decreased over time, the US Education Secretary Miguel A. Cardona stated in March that it is "either expressly allowed or not expressly prohibited in 23 states."
He added: "Furthermore, researchers have determined that the use of corporal punishment in schools is likely underreported."
Almost 70,000 pupils are struck "at least once by school personnel" each year, according to the AAP, even though 96% of public schools claim they no longer strike students. Meanwhile, corporal punishment is most common in the US South.
The AAP suggests that Black and disabled children in the US are more frequently subjected to corporal punishment.
Black boys and girls are twice as likely to be disciplined or struck than White children. Between 2013 and 2014, children with disabilities were struck more frequently than students without disabilities in over half of schools that used corporal punishment, CNN reported.
Such circumstances raised "troubling concerns about the disparate treatment of students with disabilities, who are too often punished for behaviours arising from their disability," according to a 2019 report by the Civil Rights Project.
"This isn't acceptable — all children need to feel safe to learn," said lead author Dr Mandy Allison, an associate professor of paediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, Colorado.
Allison added that research indicates that corporal punishment while causing short-term fear and obedience, does not improve long-term behaviour, is not an effective discipline method, and does not foster a positive learning environment or supportive school climate.
The AAP further underlined that the stance against spanking extends beyond school grounds and urged parents to "not use spanking, hitting, slapping, threatening, insulting, humiliating, or shaming" when disciplining their children.
Dr Nathaniel Beers, executive vice president of community and population health for Children’s National in Washington, DC, said that age-appropriate, nonviolent behavioural strategies should be used as alternatives to corporal punishment, including positive reinforcement, setting limits, redirecting, and setting future expectations.
The APP has previously called for a ban on corporal punishment, citing scientific evidence on its harms and the effectiveness of nonviolent approaches.
Allison said that studies show no evidence that corporal punishment is effective for behaviour improvements, with a strong association between corporal punishment in school and lower academic achievement, standardised test scores, and higher rates of dropout.
Newer research has also shown the success of positive interventions like conflict resolution, mentoring, individual therapy, and trauma-informed school concepts.
Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a US government-funded school intervention that trains teachers and schools on positive behaviours, including classroom expectations and logical consequences for negative behaviour.
Trauma-informed schools are addressing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), which include poverty, violence, suicide, abuse, neglect, addiction, mental disorders, and school shootings.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that nearly 1 in 6 US people have experienced four or more ACEs before age 18, linked to chronic health problems, mental illness, and substance use issues in adolescence and adulthood.
"Restorative justice" is another school approach where individuals who cause harm to another person sit down and discuss their actions, taking responsibility which has shown promising results at the Oakland Unified School District in California when they implemented this alternative.
"All of these approaches are trying to understand kind of the underlying reasons why a child is acting out instead of being reactionary to that behaviour," Allison said. "They are trying to understand the systemic structures, including racism and poverty, that are the antecedents of poor behaviour."
Here’s the approach educators should take, she said: "You’re not just a bad kid. Let’s understand what’s going on in your life and why you’re acting out, and then let’s try to help manage those things so that you don’t need to act out."
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