Bill may mean no more slapping rulers, but larger government role in private schools

WASHINGTON — A recent bill could put a stop to teacher-administered paddlings, making corporal punishment illegal in public schools and any private schools, including religious ones, that receive even a trickle of federal funding.

Religious school organizations, usually quick to identify government encroachment, have few worries about the bill, though. Many abandoned hitting as a punishment years ago and have discouraged educators from using other forms of corporal punishment as well.

“Whether you believe it’s right or wrong, it’s just too big of a liability or legal issue,” said Tom Cathey, director for legal legislation issues at the Association of Christian Schools International, which oversees private Christian schools around the world. “We recommend that our schools not use corporal punishment.”

Introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y.,on June 29, the bill would ban schools from practicing any corporal punishment “as a form of punishment,” or “for the purpose of modifying undesirable behavior.” The bill would cover public schools and any private schools that receive federal money for free lunch programs or bus rides for their poorer students.

Corporal punishment is allowed in 20 states, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.

A swift rap across the knuckles, issued by a nun, used to be a hallmark of the Roman Catholic educational system in America. But in recent decades the practice has made more appearances in comedic routines than classrooms, a relic of a time gone by when more teachers were members of a religious order.

“I think corporal punishment has not been an issue for a long, long time,” said Brian Gray, a spokesman for the National Catholic Educational Association.

Gray, who attended a Catholic school, said growing up, he was never hit by a teacher.

“I never got touched by a ruler,” he said.

His association does not yet have a stance on the bill, but Gray said he was sure that it would affect Catholic schools because many benefit from federal money in some way. He did not see compliance as an issue, though.

Almost half of all Catholic schools in the U.S. receive government money in the form of the federal nutrition program, according to statistics the association releases yearly, and almost that many schools receive federal money to bus students to and from school.

The bill does not ban the use of “reasonable restraint” should a student’s behavior put other students or school personnel at a risk of injury.

It comes amid a growing debate among the psychological community on whether spanking is an effective and safe punishment tool.

“Psychologists don’t all agree that spanking is always harmful to children,” said Kim Mills, a spokeswoman for the American Psychological Association. “Some psychologists have a belief that certain levels of gentle punishment may be effective.”

The American Psychological Association’s official stance is that corporal punishment should not be allowed in schools, day care centers or other institutions.

Juli Slattery is a family psychologist at Focus on the Family, a Christian organization that works to educate families on marriage and parenting, and suggests tempered spanking on young children as one of many discipline tactics parents can have in their arsenal.

The bill, she said, is indicative of American society’s collective disagreement on how to punish its children.

“You can’t get a consensus, she said. “It was much more agreed upon in our parents’ generation.”

The responsibility for discipline, Slattery said, should ultimately rest on the guardians, not the schools. But she does worry that bills like the one proposed by McCarthy encourage a child’s disregard for consequences.

“I think it’s a step in downplaying discipline,” she said.

The legislation could set a precedent for more government regulation of private schools, according to one religious group.

“We are certainly not enamored of corporal punishment,” said Rabbi Avi Shafran, director of public affairs for Agudath Israel, a Jewish organization that helps to oversee some Orthodox-Jewish private schools. “But we are concerned with the rights of religious schools.”