Schools likelier to spank minorities, study finds

Published 10:27 pm Tuesday, August 19, 2008

WASHINGTON — Paddlings, swats, licks. A quarter of a million schoolchildren got them last year — and blacks, American Indians and kids with disabilities got a disproportionate share of the punishment, according to a study by a human rights group.

In its study, which was scheduled to be released today, Human Rights Watch used Education Department data to show that, while paddling has been declining, racial disparity persists. Researchers also interviewed students, parents and school personnel in Texas and Mississippi, states that account for 40 percent of kids of the 223,190 kids who were paddled in the 2006-07 school year.

In places where corporal punishment is allowed, teachers and principals generally have legal immunity from assault laws, the study said.

“One of the things we’ve seen over and over again is that parents have difficulty getting redress, if a child is paddled and severely injured, or paddled in violation of parents’ wishes,” said Alice Farmer, the study’s author.

African-American students are more than twice as likely to be paddled, and the disparity persists even in places with large black populations, the study found. Similarly, American Indians were more than twice as likely to be paddled, the study found.

The study also found that special-education kids were more likely to be paddled.

There is scant research on whether paddling is effective in the classroom. But many studies have shown it doesn’t work at home, said Elizabeth Gershoff, a University of Michigan assistant professor of social work.

“The use of corporal punishment is associated almost overwhelmingly with negative effects, and that it increases children’s problem behavior over time,” Gershoff said.

Children may learn to solve problems using aggression, and a sense of resentment might make them act out more, Gershoff said.