Editorial: Illinois bans corporal punishment in private schools. About time

For Chicagoans of a certain vintage who attended Catholic schools in the distant past, this new law might sound like heresy: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker earlier this month signed a ban on corporal punishment in private schools. At the same time, the state reiterated a 30-year ban on the practice in public schools.

Anyone who grew up getting their knuckles rapped for school infractions can’t be blamed for thinking the nanny-state Democrats have done it again. Classrooms will turn into unruly free-for-alls, the thinking goes, and virtues like respect and discipline will go out the window.

Well, it might surprise those same old-fashioned disciplinarians to learn that Illinois’ private schools were on board with the law. Schools in the Catholic Conference of Illinois no longer use corporal punishment, Executive Director Bob Gilligan said, telling The Associated Press, “It’s an anachronistic practice.”

Ralph Rivera, who represents the Illinois Coalition of Nonpublic Schools, said he’s similarly unaware of any member school that hits its students. While his group usually opposes state meddling in its classrooms, Rivera told the AP, its schools made no objection to the law. “Even if they don’t do it, they told us to stay out of it, because it doesn’t look good when you say, ‘No, we want to be able to spank children.’”

Across the U.S., at least 96% of public schools report not using corporal punishment. The World Health Organization has decreed the practice a violation of children’s rights, and the United Nations prohibited it more than three decades ago.

So, whatever happened to that stereotypical nun who ran her classroom with an iron ruler? In short, educators wised up. The evidence shows that hitting kids in school doesn’t work. In the long run, it leads to worse behavior, and can leave children traumatized. It’s also unfairly administered, with Black males and students with disabilities disproportionately targeted.

There really is no excuse for it, and plenty of reasons why teachers — and parents — have no business paddling, spanking or hitting the children in their care. You don’t have to take our word for it: The American Academy of Pediatrics in suburban Itasca has been crying out to end corporal punishment of children for years now.

In research published last year, the physicians’ group renewed its call. The group cited a series of studies that indicate spanking by parents or primary caregivers does not achieve better behavior. A 2017 study among parents from different countries and cultures confirms that hitting kids can bring on multiple problems.

“In the short-term, corporal punishment may cause a child or adolescent to be fearful and immediately obedient,” the research report said. Over the long term, however, hitting kids not only fails to improve behavior, but can lead to mental-health problems, impaired cognitive development, poor educational outcomes and increased aggression. Further, being spanked as a child can contribute to antisocial behavior and other problems in adulthood as well.

While the evidence is strong, not everyone wants to believe it. After all, most people who were mildly spanked as children, either by teachers or parents, didn’t grow up with terrible problems as a result.

In parts of the Southern U.S., being paddled at school remains a rite of passage. Even though a dwindling number of public schools still use corporal punishment, almost 70,000 students are being struck at least once by school personnel during an academic year, according to research cited by the pediatrician group.

State Rep. Margaret Croke, a Chicago Democrat whose school-age child attends Catholic school, championed the Illinois law. Her intent was not to open the door to state regulation of private education, she told the AP, but to “keep kids out of harm’s way.”

Croke said she was disturbed by a Missouri school district that dropped corporal punishment in 2001, then reinstated it two years ago as an opt-in for parents. Croke wanted to send a message that “it never was going to be OK to inflict harm or pain on a child.”

When the ban takes effect in January, Illinois will become just the fifth state in the nation to prohibit corporal punishment in all schools, along with New Jersey, Iowa, Maryland and New York. Today, 17 states technically allow corporal punishment in all schools, although four prohibit its use on students with disabilities. North Carolina state law doesn’t preclude it but every school district in the state blocked its use in 2018.

Federal efforts to ban the practice have gone nowhere so far, including a 2023 measure co-sponsored by Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin. Given that thousands of children are still getting beaten at school every year, with negative results, it’s time to get this legislation out of committee and into practice. Let’s put the paddles away for good.

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