On the first day of October, the Assistant Principal Solomon Barnes, Dade County School paddled a student named Roosevelt Ingraham. Andrews received corporal punishment because he was accused of being tardy. Barnes hit him on the arm, back and neck (oyez.org). It was later found out that Ingraham claimed that he still had two minutes to get to the class.

The Eighth Amendment protects against cruel and unusual punishment, and the striking of a child in an attempt to discipline him in a school setting is most certainly cruel. The punishment of paddling a student is most certainly inappropriate in the school setting.

The punishment that Ingraham had received violated the Eighth Amendment. He was hit more than 20 times and required medical attention because of the corporal punishment given by the administration (britannica.com)

If the court determined this case to be appropriate, than other schools in the area would do the same, causing massive havok. According to The New York Times article “10 Supreme Court Cases High School Students Should Know”, in 1971, a case was brought to a lower level court in which a student was paddled by the same principal and the court ruled that that action was both against the Eighth Amendment and against the due process clause.

The most recent and relevant case was in Arkansas where paddling is still legal in schools. On March 14, students of the city of Greenbrier participated in a national walk out to honor the students killed in the Parkland School Shooting. Wylie Greer, a high school senior said “I received my punishment during 6th period. The dean-of-students carried it out while the assistant principal witnessed. The punishment was not dealt with malice or cruelty, in fact, I have the utmost respect for all the adults involved. They were merely doing their job as the school board and school policy dictated” (snopes.com). This incident is causing huge controversy throughout the media as to the issue of corporal punishment to be addressed. The public is realizing that this still exists in some states and that it needs to change and quickly.

Although the paddling is inappropriate, the paddling or physical containment of a child is acceptable when the child is endangering the other students. If the only way that this student could be controlled was for the child to be restrained by the assistant principals and the principal would have some control over the situation.

Additionally, the school had the Constitution on its side. It states “The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment does not require notice and hearing prior to imposition of corporal punishment as that practice is authorized and limited by the common law” (supreme.justia.com). This means that you do not have to be warned if you are getting corporal punishment applied to you. That corporal punishment is constitutional even if you are not notified of the action ahead of time.

This form of punishment in any other case is absolutely cruel and inappropriate for a school setting.

Sources:

https://www.oyez.org/cases/1976/75-6527

https://www.britannica.com/event/Ingraham-v-Wright

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/430/651/case.html

https://www.snopes.com/news/2018/03/16/arkansas-teen-confirms-mothers-account-of-school-paddling-after-gun-protest/