In Searcy, Arkansas schools, almost half the kids get paddled

[Rose Siding]

Arkansas ranks only second to Mississippi in the amount of paddlings recorded, and in Arkansas, Searcy ranks among the highest in the state for most paddlings recorded.

Searcy Public Schools paddled students at a rate of almost one out of two during the 2003-2004 school year, according to data provided by the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE).
...
Principal William Dunaway of Ahlf Junior High School has a similar policy. He rates two licks of the paddle as equaling a morning detention.

Getting caught chewing gum, wearing sagging pants, being tardy, and skipping homework will force a student to choose between a detention and a paddling, Dunaway said.
...
"With any kind of altercation of a violent matter, I will never consider corporal punishment," Dunaway said. "Because then we violate the idea that violence is never an answer to violence."

http://www.thedailycitizen.com/articles/2005/02/28/news/top_stories/top02.txt

Some of those must be repeat "offenders" but for chewing GUM? This clown gets that "violence is never an answer to violence" but thinks it's an answer to skipping homework? Isn't a score of zero just a tad more appropriate?

[Richard Steele]

1. No doubt his policies are producing academic EXCELLENCE, right?

[HereSince1628]

2. Violent punishment is only for non-violent offenses?

Say What?

[Solly Mack]

3. sometimes you just gotta say

what a fucking idiot

[chlamor]

4. Went to Ninth Grade In Mtn. Home Arkansas

Loved it there but the schools were pretty bizarre. I was threatened to be paddled for acting up and my father threatened the teacher that he would paddle back. Pretty primordial stuff. Arkansas is gorgeous.

[gratuitous]

5. "Violence is never an answer to violence"

But it apparently IS the answer to sagging pants.

I don't want to turn this into a South-bashing thread, because I know that this sort of boobery isn't limited to the states of the old South, but you have to admit that it IS this sort of thing that provides fodder for the low opinion some people have of that area of the country.

I'd still like to take a few days to hike and camp in the Ozarks, whether it's in Arkansas or Missouri.

[naturalselection]

6. I taught at a high school in Texas

where we had a "paddling" punishment. Students were given a choice of detention or 2 swipes with the paddle. It was a joke. Students actually chose the paddling b/c it was quick whereas detention meant sitting after school for an hour when they could be out with their friends. Those students who routinely were paddled never had their behavior altered by the punishment.

Parents within the district never had any problems with it as far as I knew.