Decades ago, standard equipment for an elementary school teacher in Boston was a rattan switch. Prescribing the rattan was a non-pharmaceutical remedy for ADHD. Misbehaving boys would go to the teacher’s room for a few disciplinary strokes across the arms or legs. The status of the teacher was so great in those days that the punished student would be reluctant to complain to parents out of fear that he might be punished again for offending such an authority figure. The Vikings’ Adrian Peterson apparently lacks the authority to discipline his own son.
In defiance of the classical injunction, “spare the rod and spoil the child,” the Massachusetts Legislature has only recently passed a law to prohibit corporal punishment in public schools. However, legislative efforts to extend this prohibition to parents and families have been unsuccessful. Now the usual remedy on behalf of those offended by corporal punishment is to file a criminal complaint for assault and battery or for injury to a child.
The debate continues as to whether corporal punishment is beneficial or harmful to children. Spanking was always a common practice among blacks, but there seems to be diminishing social acceptance of that form of discipline. Nonetheless, it seems unreasonable to attack the reputation of Vikings running back Adrian Peterson because he spanked his 4-year-old son even without evidence that the child has been brutalized.
Among the older generation of black males there are few who made it to maturity without some corporal discipline along the way. People learn how to be parents from those who raised them. Without more evidence of abject brutality, public reaction to news reports about Peterson is excessive.
