A school is supposed to be a haven where children can learn and grow safely. But for more than 220,000 U.S. children subjected to corporal punishment at school annually, including thousands in Louisiana, the classroom is often where the nightmare begins.
That's particularly true for children with disabilities, according to a report by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. The report offers harrowing evidence in favor of banning corporal punishment in Louisiana and the other 19 states that still allow it.
Using federal data from 2006-07, the report found that students with disabilities made up 19 percent of those subjected to corporal punishment nationwide, but only 14 percent of all students. In Louisiana, 11,080 Louisiana children received corporal punishment, and 2,463 of them had disabilities.
To read the report is to be appalled by the abuse being dispensed in the name of discipline.
A Texas middle schooler with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was left with "deep bruises . . . three inches by four inches" after a paddling. The bruises and swelling on the arm of a 5-year-old Georgia girl with autism were so severe that an emergency room doctor compared them to those from a beating with a baseball bat or a motorcycle accident.
Many students with disabilities are being beaten precisely because of behaviors that are a result of their disabilities. That's just plain cruel.
Other studies have shown that beatings damage the trust between educator and student, leaving students unable to learn effectively and more likely to drop out of school.
That's why most states have banned corporal punishment. Louisiana law allows individual districts to set corporal punishment policies, but only 14 districts statewide prohibit it. A statewide ban proposed by state Rep. Barbara Norton, of Shreveport, died in committee in the recent session.
But state officials should opt for more effective and less traumatic ways to discipline children. Banning corporal punishment statewide is a good place to start.