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A US school is trying to reinstate the wooden paddle to punish students, asking parents for their permission to use the controversial form of discipline.

The Georgia School of Innovation and the Classics, a kindergarten-ninth grade charter school, sent home permission slips announcing the new discipline policy at the Hephizibah campus, news station WRDW reported.

Superintendent Jody Boulineau said about one-third of the 100 forms returned before Thursday gave consent to strike the students with a wooden board.

“I’ve heard, ‘Great, it’s about time, we’re so glad that this is happening again, they should’ve never taken it out of schools.’ All the way to, ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t believe you are doing that,’” Boulineau told WRDW.

According to the policy, students will be taken to an office behind closed doors, where they will place their hands on their knees or a piece of furniture and be struck with a paddle.

School officials said students will not be punished with more than three strikes.

“In this school, we take discipline very seriously,” Bolineau told WRDW. “There was a time where corporal punishment was kind of the norm in school and you didn’t have the problems that you have.”

The controversial policy is still legal in Georgia and 19 other states, according to the news station.

“It’s just one more tool that we have in our disciplinary toolbox that we can use,” Boulineau said.

This post originally appeared on New York Post

Do you think we need to see the paddle back in schools or is it a massive step in the wrong direction?

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  • No thank you. I remember school beatings from when i was a child. It was more about when the teacher was upset and not so much on if the child had misbehaved.

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  • I thought physical punishment in schools was a thing of the past, a thing that was around generations ago. I certainly wouldn’t give permission.

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  • No way. I do believe in discipline, but not by hitting children with a paddle, strap or anything else. There are better ways to bring children into line.

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  • Oh my God, I’m totally against this practice being made a part of school’s disciplinary methods. Students being hit behind closed doors sound so awful.

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  • I am all for smacking kids but I think allowing teachers/principals to do this is a real danger and I don’t believe in smacking/hitting with an implement like that. Who’s to say how hard someone else might hit your child, especially if they have become angry. I think punishment like this should be only something that parents be allowed to do.

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  • Wow, I so thought we had moved past this. I must admit, the threat of the cane when I was in Primary School made you live in fear of ever doing anything wrong. These days… there is no respect and no fear. Maybe that’s the problem in schools. I don’t know.

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  • The mere thought of this being done would bring most children back into line. There must be huge problems at this school if this sort of discipline is being considered and it is obviously something that parents are concerned about.

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  • Giving them a smack on the bottom will work IF it is done in front of their peers, it does not need to hurt them because it embarrasses them by treating them as if they were like a small child. My kids would fight & play up in public as they got into their teens, a smack on the bottom worked really well because they would look around to see if their friends saw it happen.
    I grew up in an era where we were punished for bad behaviour & the threat of a smack worked in most cases, teachers used a ruler in our classes if you persisted & the worst ones would go to the office for the cane across their hand. Providing it is done right & in a controlled environment it will work better than the softly softly punishment used in our schools today.

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  • You would wonder what era the person/school, who want to implement this rule, this out is coming from !

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  • That’s a no from me too

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  • It look similar to those some of the older generation used for stirring jam, suaces, chutneys etc.
    The school wants to sue these? CHILD ABUSE No different to using their hands……except it won’t hurt the teacher’s hand. If they bang them on their desks they might split the paddles…..and damage their desks. One strike would be enough to fracture a bone, not just severe bruising.

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  • God this is such a bad idea. There are ways to enforce rules and apply discipline without smacking a child that isn’t yours much less giving them a whack with a paddle. “Behind closed doors” just made me all kinds of suspicious, wary and uncomfortable and even though they say it’ll only be three whacks who’s controlling how bloody hard they’ll be? If I went out and did that to some else’s child it would be considered assault. What a stupid idea.

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  • Um no way!!!!!! This is abuse. Hitting an adult is a criminal offence but hitting a child is not? wtfffff.

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  • No!! It is a backward step and I imagine with current laws it would be quite rightly questioned. How would it hold up legally? Violence is never the answer and history clearly demonstrates the poor and traumatic results of this method of discipline.

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  • No way, so wrong !! No-one has the right to hit / hurt our children !

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