In the final months of the Obama Administration, it pushes its policy and takes its steps to stop corporal punishment permanently on all public schools.
According to the most recent data from the federal government, there were over 110,000 students who suffered from abuse in the classrooms in the school year 2013 to 2014 alone. The current administration now aims to reduce this number.
In the letter sent by the outgoing Secretary of Education John King, he urged the top education officials of every state to prohibit the corporal punishment for those who have not banned it yet.
"The use of corporal punishment ... is harmful, ineffective, and often disproportionately applied to students of color and students with disabilities," King says in the letter. He argues that research shows corporal punishment to be ineffective and inhumane.
"The use of corporal punishment can hinder the creation of a positive school climate by focusing on punitive measures to address student misbehavior rather than positive behavioral interventions and supports," he says. "Corporal punishment also teaches students that physical force is an acceptable means of solving problems."
The practice of corporal punishment does not affect all students equally because more than one-third of public schools students subjected to corporal punishment were black, and this is particular to the year 2013-2014. It was in the same year that black girls were more likely to get disciplined than white girls.
"These data and disparities shock the conscience," says the letter.
The letter also states that this practice of corporal punishment does not effectively discipline a child or correct their behavior, it even makes them more aggressive. It can even result in long term, more traumatic and damaging results especially to the mental health of a child, according to research
