When then-8th grader Trey Clayton entered the Independence High School assistant principal's office for a paddling in 2011, everyone—school officials, his mom, even Trey himself—thought it was a preferable alternative to being suspended.
"I'm not going to lie, I was in a lot of trouble during school," Clayton said. "Every time, they gave me the option to get a paddling or get sent home, and I took the paddling."
But that March, the decision to take paddling over suspension would lead to weeks out of school, years of court battles—and ultimately Clayton leaving school entirely.
Advocates of physical discipline often point to it as an effective means of getting students in line without missing school time from suspensions. But new research not only questions the effectiveness of corporal punishment like spanking and paddling, but suggests it might make it more difficult for students to behave well in the future.
[For more of this story, written by Sarah D. Sparks, go to http://www.edweek.org/ew/artic...ed-by-8th-grade.html]
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