Why Corporal Punishment in Schools Should Be Outlawed

When parents deliver corporal punishment to their kids, they sometimes back this up by saying it's done out of love. For the record, I believe that 99 percent of the time, it's done out of anger, frustration and impatience - a quick fix.

But if you yourself truly think you hit your children out of love, then ask yourself this: If you do it out of love, why does a school teacher do it? Is that whack on the fingers from the yardstick, or that paddling on the tush, done because Miss Olson loves her students?

Teachers are prone to as much anger, frustration and impatience as parents are. So when a teacher strikes a child, love has nothing to do with it. Quite frankly, some teachers don't give a hoot about your child's feelings, hopes, fears, future, goals, or whatever. All that teacher wants is a quick solution.

On the other hand, let's not forget that teachers are human. Like the rest of us, they are capable of having it in for someone, for no particular reason. Perhaps someone at your workplace gets on your nerves and rubs you the wrong way, even though that person has never actually done any harm to you. Some teachers feel this way about particular students.

Did you know that boys, far more than girls, are more likely to get hit by teachers? This isn't because girls are better behaved! Girls can be as "bad" or as wild as any boy!

Now, out of all the boys who get struck by their teachers, did you know that a disproportionate number of them are black?

Being a black boy in America means a much higher risk of getting physically struck by a school teacher. Why is this? Do teachers love black boys more than any other demographic? Or do teachers feel they can get away more with hitting boys - especially boys of color? Something's not right here.

Teachers do not have to get physical to control a class. Think back to your school days: the teachers who always had the most control of their classes. What were they like? Did they go around smacking and slapping and spanking the students? The teachers I remember whose classes were always well-behaved, were the calmest teachers - not a wishy-washy calm, but a stern, "I'm in charge" type of calm.