The Christian Science Monitor probably said it best a little over a
year ago. "When it comes to spanking, there's no such thing as a
consensus in America's schools." The paper also called it "another
symbol of the nation's red-blue divide. Most states that still allow
the practice are in the South and Midwest."

"Between 1980 and 2000, the number of students struck in US public
schools declined from 1.4 million to 342,000, according to an analysis
by the Center for Effective Discipline of data from the US Department
of Education." What remains unclear is whether the numbers reflect a
linear decline or a parabola approaching a nadir.

Only New Jersey and Iowa ban paddling in private schools.

The Monitor also pointed to the Le Moyne College Masters of Education
program candidate who was expelled from the program last year for
writing a paper endorsing paddling in schools. So much for academic
freedom!

There have also been some quirks in public schools.

The Pike County, Ohio school system banned paddling in 1993 and
reinstated it a little over a decade later. According to an interview
with then principal of Western Elementary School in Latham, misbehavior
in the school declined as a result.

With the backing of the local newspaper and over the objection of the
superintendent, Georgia's Lanier County Board of Education restored
paddling to its schools about a year ago.

Then, there was the case of the 18-year-old Texas student who got
paddled in high school. The student argued that she could not be
paddled because her parents had NOT given explicit permission. She
attorney claimed assault. The school system argued that her parents
didn't need to because she was still a student AND past her 18th
birthday! While I could never find out what the outcome of her appeal,
a lack of no-spank propaganda probably means the school district
prevailed. At least that has been the judicial trend for well over a
decade.

Ron wrote:
"Carlson LaVonne" wrote in message
...
I don't think anyone who is opposed to paddling minors has said that
teachers don't get assaulted by students in high school, or that paddling a
student wouldn't provoke a "fight."

Teachers ARE assaulted by highschool students, and of course the kids end up
in a court room.

Will a paddling in highschool provoke an assault on a teacher? Lets look at
that, just for the same of the educationally limited.

1. Teachers do not paddle students. Administrative staff do, i.e. a
Principal. And then only after consultation with the Childs parents.

2. Now, do kids in highschool get paddled in school? Not in any school I
have ever heard of, not even parochial schools. My own children have
attended both public and parochial school over the years, and in all cases
the policy of the schools is that there can be no corporal punishment in any
form. Not even with the permission of the childs parent.

The problem is with the law in this country that allows students to be
paddled by teachers and school administrators. And that unfair law is on
the side of the teachers and the school administrators.

How is this "unfair"?

Work to change the law, and provide the same protection for individuals
under the age of 18 from physical assault that every legal adult in the
USA enjoys.

It's not a matter of whether paddling a high school student would provoke
a fight. Paddling a high school student is legal in many states --
physical retaliation is assault. So, the student suffers twice. Let's
make things fair.

OK, lets give a 9mm pistol to every person who enters the school. Of course
we are going to have to teach them how to use them, so lets start with
mandatory weapons safety classes in kindergarten. Don't want anyone getting
accidentally shot now do we? This way EVERYONE is on equal footing,
everyone can both defend themselves from unwanted assaults as well as
initiate those assaults against those they know are also equally armed, as
is everyone around them.

Is this not equality? Equal rights, no matter what the age? After all, it
would only take a single years national budget to issue a gun to every
single citizen out there, and then we would have not only a 100% armed
citizenry, we would also have the worlds most polite society.

Ron


LaVonne

fistoffury wrote:
Somebody would have to be living in a vacuum to think that
teachers never get assaulted by students in highschool. We all hear
stories about that kind of stuff in the news or read about it in the
papers, or we might even know somebody who has direct experience with
it. So therefore, whats to say that in schools that paddle highschool
students, that the teachers wont get assaulted when they try to paddle
the students? If teachers do get assaulted, and we know very well that
they do, than common sense would say that if anything, a paddling would
provoke an assault against the paddling teacher. Much the same way that
shoving or hitting somebody would provoke a fight.