With all of this talk about corporal punishment in schools, I'd be intersted in hearing about teachers, administrators and school boards that have taken a stand and said "Corporal punishment is not appropriate in our school", even when it is legal in the state.

Anyone know of any?

well you didnt get overwhelmed w responses!!

maybe another way to ask is this, in what states or district is CP legal (as you listed elsehwere) but NOT practiced (it does happen)...and why isnt it practiced?

ie did the admin 'do the right thing' ages ago and frown on it and silently stop the practice, or is the law just a relic of the past and still on the books for no reason and no one even knows its there.

in the states /districts where its legal AND is practiced, my bet is the admin and teachers see nothing wrong with it, thats why it continues, and thats why youve gotten no replies to your posting.

I was discussing this issue with my best Illinois friend. She's a nurse, was asking about my new Alabama doctor, I said I wasn't thrilled with him and espcecially now that I see he's on the city school board that has a pro-corporal punishment policy. She got very quiet for a minute and then said, "Um, nobody uses corporal punishment any more. It's illegal." I said, "No, it's currently legal in 22 of our states and, apparently, used quite frequently." She was literally dumbfounded.

That's why I think the current efforts to bring national media attention to this issue is so important. It lets people know it still goes on in many public schools and lets those practicing it know that the majority of the country disagrees with it.

...yeah, the thought of it is more than most can even imagine as it seems like such an "old fashioned" way to punish a child. I mentioned the post to our dean and he started laughing until he realized I wasn't joking. He was amazed but not surprised.

Then again, this week in Colorado we have other issues to tend to that are more puzzling.

some school are doing the right thing, othrs.....

nytimes.com/2006/09/30/education/30punish.html?

I was shocked to read that corporal punishment is still legal in some states. I had no idea!!!

As a teaacher in a California school, I can't imagine EVER hitting a child. That would completely undermine everything I work to accomplish. The thought occassionally crosses my mind (usually in the spring) but acting on that would be SO absolutely unacceptable. I don't go around hitting other teachers, do I? So why would I hit a child?

Seems to me that these teachers are out of control. If hitting is the only way to keep their classrooms in line, they need to learn some classroom management techniques.

As a mother of three school-aged children, I can't imagine what response I would have if a teacher hit my child. I'm sure we all teach our children that hitting is wrong, and if you do something wrong you MUST apologize and never do it again. So maybe some apologies - teacher to student - are in order.