Three Texan schools have reportedly brought back corporal punishment for poorly behaved students.
Teachers at the Three Rivers Schools District will be allowed to use wooden paddles to beat disobedient children, receiving one paddling for each act of misbehaviour.
The schools educate students from the age of four to 18, and parents who enroll their children will have the choice of whether or not the form of punishment can be used on their child.
Advert
They'll be asked whether or not they consent to it, and only those whose parents agree will it be used on, according to the Independent.
"If the parent is not comfortable with it, that's the end of the discussion", Three Rivers Independent Schools District Superintendent Mary Springs told the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.
The punishment is thought to teach children a lesson in obedience, with the schools claiming that those paddled will be less likely to misbehave, both at school and later in life.
Credit: PA
Advert
Andrew Amaro, school's campus behaviour co-ordinator, pitched the idea, saying that from his experience it's really helpful.
"It was an immediate response for me. I knew that if I got in trouble with a teacher and I was disrespectful, whatever the infraction was, I knew I was going to get a swat by the principal," he said.
Ms Springs added: "We will look at how many discipline referrals were made compared to last year and how many times [corporal punishment] was administered.
"If it reduces the number of discipline referrals, then that is a good thing."
Credit: PA
Advert
Corporate punishment is defined as: "The intentional infliction of pain or discomfort and/or the use of physical force upon a student with the intention of causing the student to experience bodily pain so as to correct or punish the student's behaviour," by the National Association of School Psychologists.
In 2016, then-US Secretary of Education, John B King Jr., wrote to state leaders calling for a ban on corporal punishment in schools.
An investigation previously found that 110,000 American students receive this type of punishment each school year.
Advert
It's usually thought of as a rather unethical method of deterring children away from deviating, acting up, going astray or being immoral.
Featured Image Credit: Wesley Fryer/Flickr