That’s a paddlin’

Reading an article from Newsweek recently, I couldn’t help but think of the Simpsons episode where the old guy substitutes at the school and proceeds to tell the students about all the offenses that will result in a “paddlin’.” It was ridiculous and funny. The Newsweek article was not funny. It was about a struggling school in South Carolina that re-instituted corporal punishment. The “new” principal used it to turn the school around after years of disciplinary problems and poor academic performance. The school is in an area hit hard by the economic downturn – a place “where all but one of the major textile plants have closed, and where the leading local employer is the school system…. Nearly 90 percent of the kids…live below the poverty line.” Let me see if I can dissect this for my readers.

The school was in disarray. They had disciplinary problems so bad that a teacher quit and took her own child out of the school. The school’s academic performance was sub-standard. The economic downturn gave little hope to the people of the community and with a lack of good education the children were set to suffer the same fate as their parents (life below poverty level). In 2006 a young, inexperienced Administrator, named David Nixon took over as principal at one of the elementary schools and changed the paradigm. Though he did not come up with the idea to institute corporal punishment on his own, he did execute it well. Further evidence that he wasn’t planning this from the start, he didn’t even have his own paddle, “[h]e found it in a dusty cabinet in his predecessor's office.” No one knew if it had actually been used previously, but has since being discovered.

It all started:

“Thirty minutes into his first day of school at John C, a father walked into Nixon's office and said, ‘I want to give you the authority to whip my son's butt.’ Nixon was surprised, but after he thought it over, he decided to give every parent the same option.”

So he didn’t just take it upon himself to start beating kids. He didn’t come in the door thinking “I’m going to teach these kids a thing or two.” It just sort of happened and the funny thing is it worked.

Every parent is given first authority over their child, and then secondly the school acts according to the offense. Parents know up-front how their child will be handled in disciplinary situations. Nixon also doesn’t spank kids for minor things like talking out of turn. He reserves the corporal punishment for what are considered major offenses – it is a last resort. Nixon isn’t always the one administering the punishment either:

“After a conversation in Nixon's office, the child was paddled at home. Parents are given the option of spanking their child themselves; on rare occasions, they come to the school and use their own belts.”

Every thought has been given to the use of this punishment. It wasn’t something taken lightly, and there are clear guidelines and hesitancy in using the paddle.

“Before he begins, though, he sits the child down for a quiet talk about why he, or she, is in trouble. He tries to determine if a deeper issue, such as a problem at home, might warrant a meeting with a counselor. If the child shows remorse, Nixon will often send him or her back to class without a spanking.”

Additionally, when paddling a female student is required, “then a female administrator does it.” Careful thought was put into the administering of corporal punishment at this school and for good reason. It could definitely be a liability nightmare if not handled carefully. The superintendant “is unsettled by the practice,” saying, “One has to be extremely careful with this.” It’s hard to argue with the results though. Since 2006 “referrals to the principal's office have dropped 80 percent.” The school also recently received three state awards, “one for academic performance and two for overall improvement—the school's first such honors in its 35-year history.” You have to think that has something to do with the kids spending more time in the classroom and less at home under non-corporal punishment.

You’ll get no arguments from me – it works.