Responsible educators try other methods of discipline before administering corporal punishment. The final alternative should be suspension from school after corporal punishment has failed. A 1982 state Supreme Court decision and later legislative action put suspension from school ahead of corporal punishment in the priority of disciplinary actions we can use. But many principals have met with substantially greater resistance to suspension f rom school than we ever received about corporal punishment. In fact, the majority of parents choose, even insist, that a paddling should be the action taken.
Psychologists argue against it.
I cannot accept these axioms, regardless of any research to the contrary. Social and behavioral research often reaches conclusions that support a belief or bias of the researcher. I do not believe paddling teaches aggression any more than giving speeding tickets teaches you to be a race car driver. Fear of the consequences is an appropriate deterrent to negative behavior. To believe a society will behave appropriately because it is the right thing to do is naive.