Witnesses were present each time. Most parents, teachers, and students support Adams. Murtaugh school board Chairman Stuart Tolman says the practice was adopted to appease parents who are calling for more discipline in the schools. Suspensions just give kids a holiday, he says. Paddling works, Adams maintains, noting that there were no suspensions at all last year.
Students always choose paddling because it's over quickly.
But paddling is the least effective means of discipline. Educators who use corporal punishment are emulating parents who have failed. Educators could eliminate 50 percent of their discipline problems if they would just ask themselves if the curriculum is appropriate for each child. George Batsche, a school psychologist at the University of South Florida and past president of the National Association of School Psychologists, believes educators can avoid most disciplinary problems, and the use of corporal punishment, by teaching social skills and conflict resolution, building home-school partnerships, clearly specifying conduct rules at the beginning of the year, offering praise whenever students act appropriately, and modifying the curriculum to meet the individual needs of students. When students misbehave, Batsche suggests, educators should respond by removing attention from the child, imposing natural consequences that relate to the behavior, removing the student from the situation, and canceling privileges.