Education reform is shaping up as major campaign issue in this fall's national election. In 10 other U.S. states the decision whether or not to use corporal punishment in schools is up to the local school districts. A written statement outlining the AAP's position appears in this month's issue of the journal Pediatrics . Corporal punishment is not the most effective way, and in may cases can have ill effects. Those effects, claim Taras, include harm to a child's self-esteem, physical injury, a drop in academic performance and the chance that children will be more prone to violence themselves.
Corporal punishment has deep social, cultural and emotional roots here and around the world.
Some believe the Bible sanctions physical punishment for wrongdoing. Others lash out at kids as a result of frustration or because that's what their parents did. He argues that in the school setting, especially, there are far more humane ways to correct and guide children. While Taras does not condone corporal punishment of kids by their parents, he says the effects of being hit or hurt by teachers can be even worse. Allowing a stranger to have that sort of effect on one's own body is not something we can endorse.