A school district in southwest Missouri has decided to bring back a “golden oldie” disciplinary tactic that it hasn’t used in more than 20 years - spanking, with parents’ approval.

When I mentioned this to some of my elementary teacher friends, one or two actually sounded envious that it is not an option they can use on some of their, shall we call them, really challenging students.

Classes began last week for the 1,900 students at Cassville School District, about an hour from resort town Branson. For the current school year, the board of education has adopted a policy to allow the “use of physical force as a method of correcting student behavior.” At an open house before the start of classes, parents were handed forms to decide whether they would authorize the school to use a paddle on their child.

I am sure many of you are horrified at the notion of returning to corporal punishment in the classroom. I am old enough to remember being the recipient of one or two well-aimed slaps on the face when I was in elementary school in Summit Hill in the late-1940s. One was administered without warning by Miss Belle Boyle, my fourth grade teacher, when I emitted a loud “WOW” upon hearing the low grade of one of my classmates after a spelling test. Miss Boyle always read aloud the test grades of all of the students.

Naturally, I never reported these slaps to my parents, because I knew that if I did, I might receive a companion slap on the other cheek, because in our home “the teacher is always right. Period.”

I also recall several of my “more incorrigible” classmates, as they were referred to, being paddled on more than one occasion by my junior high school principal, who was regarded with fear and loathing as a no-nonsense disciplinarian.

Corporal punishment was banned in Pennsylvania public schools in 2005. Any number of polls show that most of us are not in favor of this type of physical discipline. In a poll 20 years ago, 72% of adults were opposed to corporal punishment; this increased to 77% three years later.

Some who think that with what is going on in our schools today, maybe we should return to a stricter (and more violent) forms of discipline. A friend of mine, who teaches in the Panther Valley district, reminded me that even the Bible seems to favor corporal punishment with obstinate children. Proverbs 13:24, he said, has the well-known warning that essentially says, “spare the rod and spoil the child.”

I went to the Good Book (New International Version) to check out the entire verse. Here’s what it says: “Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.”

Teachers say that corporal punishment is the least effective method of discipline, and all of my teacher friends said they are extremely careful about even touching a student inadvertently for fear of legal reprisals that could end their careers.

Corporal punishment is when physical force is used to inflict pain or discomfort in response to undesired behavior. When these methods were used, it frequently meant striking a student on the buttocks with a wooden paddle.

This form of discipline was found to be constitutional in the U.S. Supreme Court case Ingraham v. Wright, which found the practice was not a violation of a student’s protection under the 8th Amendment’s “cruel and unusual punishment” clause.

I was stunned to find out that corporal punishment is still legal in public schools in 19 states and in all private schools except those in New Jersey and Iowa. My check with several Catholic and charter schools in our five-county region of Carbon, Schuylkill, Northampton, Monroe and Lehigh showed none of them allow corporal punishment.

In the Missouri district, corporal punishment will only be administered by a principal and in the presence of a witness, never inflicted in the presence of other students. The superintendent said that with the parents’ written consent “one or two” swats will be administered to younger students, “up to three” for older students.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com

The foregoing opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board or Times News LLC.