Old school is making a comeback. A school district in Missouri is bringing back a discipline measure that it hasn’t used in over two decades: spanking students.
The Cassville R-IV School District opened classes on Monday and notified parents that the school board had adopted a corporal punishment policy allowing “use of physical force as a method of correcting student behavior.” Parents were given forms to specify whether they authorize the school to paddle their child.
The school district says staff members are instructed to use “reasonable physical force” that won’t incur a “chance of bodily injury or harm.” Additionally, the spanking must take place in the presence of another witness, and the teacher will have to send a report to the superintendent explaining the reason for the punishment.
Superintendent Merlyn Johnson said that younger students could expect to get one or two spanks from the paddle, while older students would get up to three.
“Parents have said, ‘why can’t you paddle my student’ and we’re like, “We can’t paddle your student, our policy does not support that,'” Johnson told the Washington Post. “There had been conversations with parents and there had been requests from parents for us to look into it.”
Presumably, chutzpah toward a teacher would make a child a prime target for a spanking session. However, if the child apologizes, they would likely be spared the paddle, because what matters is not what you say, it’s what you disavow.
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15 Responses
at last.
i smacked and smack every one of my children. i also worked with their cheider to slap them if its really needed. its about time it gets restored. thats how we were raised and we are far better than todays generation 25-30 years later
Absent a state statute supporting them, the school district will be open to lawsuits for assault.
Children need discipline like plants need water.
About a decade ago, a colleague of mine, a rabbi and Hebrew School principal, was cursed to his face by a pre-Bar Mitzvah student. The mollycoddled son of a hedge fund manager, the young scholar was used to getting his own way. He would terrorize his classmates and never show even a shred of derech eretz to his teachers.
Upon being cursed out by the little delinquent, my friend the rabbi slapped him across his face.
The father had the rabbi arrested and, of course, fired. Some of the other parents tried to defend the rabbi, insisting that their children had been bullied by the delinquent and that the slap was more than deserved. Even the arresting officers felt badly. Supposedly one of the older policemen said to the father, “Just know that this is going to set your son for life. He will remember that you defended his disrespect, and he will never worry about consequences.”
You know what, friends? That boy deserved a slap on BOTH sides of his face.
Smart parents
In the short term I see merit together with risks.
In the long term, this job will G. forbid, attract adults that feel some benefit from this. That is when real problems start. I am older than most posters and I remember things in Yeshiva in the 60’s. By the way, my Yeshiva was not Chasidish and exists to this day.
Like everything else – it needs to be used properly and most will use it out of anger. That is what we learned from what was going on in schools years ago. I’ll bet that Rav Pam זצ”ל, with his נעימות, would have taught that spoiled kid in Ari Knobler’s post a lot more about דרך ארץ than that principal’s slap did.
I am not a subscriber to the woke values that sometimes seep into our lifestyle. But I am a staunch believer in chinuch being what the Torah says. It is sad that way too many of those who fill positions in our chinuch are ignorant of how that job is to be done. The most frightening part of it is that we have deteriorated into a system that builds itself on the use of rules, discipline, and the delusion that our approach is positive for the talmid as prescribed by Torah. This attitude is most anti-Torah and terribly destructive. If we pay attention to what Gedolei Yisroel recommend and guide, we would not be running the system the way we do. But thew horse has left the barn long ago, and opening or closing the doors is no longer relevant.
Discipline is a requirement for chinuch, and is stated clearly in Mishlei, חושך שבטו שונא בנו. One should review the explanation of Rav Shloma Volbe ZT”L before jumping to the conclusion that if a little is good, a lot must be better. Chazal say to use a strap as miniature as a shoelace. The slap is to be a symbol, not a punishment to cause pain. And the poskim of many generations have explained in their seforim that there are criteria that must be met before one can use corporal punishment on a talmid. Are the practitioners of petch trained in the halachos that are relevant? Are they trained in chinuch altogether?
In true chinuch, discipline is the least used tool. The rebbe, melamed, and teacher are not there to control; they are there to educate. Punishing (a.k.a. negative consequences) do not teach, they control. A rebbe is forbidden to injure a talmid ever. A rebbe may not use shame as a disciplinary tool. And a rebbe may never take revenge. If a rebbe is good at his job, his teaching is attractive to talmidim, and it should be rare that discipline is needed.
Lastly, the patching rebbe might follow all the halachos in technical terms. But many talmidim might not be resilient enough to tolerate it, and are apt to be destroyed by it. And there is no way to judge that the potch is better.
I have mixed feelings about this development. I don’t need the government to tell me whether I may potch. But I do need the mehalech of Torah. And I wosh our mechanchim would get that training and background before entering our classrooms.
I pity anyone that lays a finger on my child or grandchild. Then again, anyone who ever met me would probably be smart enough not to try!
You can yell at me or curse me out as much as you want, but touch my family and there won’t be an investigation. There will be a burial!
Aishesh Chayil: You can abuse your own kids all you want and hopefully they will survive to maturity in spite of your abuse. However, this school district and its personnel are likely to find themselves in legal jeopardy if they go forward, even with so called “parental consent”.
Hey
What happened to confiscating the shoes ..
Rav Chaim Volozhiner said never to hit a child over the age of 3 because he or she will already harbor vengeful feelings towards the adult. Most people who hit are hitting out of anger and a bruised ego, not because they care to help the child. For these reasons alone, one may not hit.
@ eishis chayil
Can you provide more details so that you can get reported to CPS for repeated child abuse?
A “woman of valor” you’re not!
A child abuser you are!
@kach
because of you and people like you the world looks the way it does. i discipline my kids. and they are well behaved and mature. i was severely punished growing up, i know the difference between discipline and abuse, i felt it on my own cheeks and bottom.
Not enough the children being spanked but alas there must be a “witness” present…. like who in the world can be more creative and child-friendly. pshhh
Honestly it’s super controversial…
and @kach i would hire you as a badchan for my child’s wedding your comments are super on point.
Petsch is important and healty in raising children both at home and in school, as long it is done with שכל and חשבון. Therefore i am a fan of bringing back petsch in the education system, on condition it has clear guidelines set by the הנהלה and is open for the parents.