Odessa

We've all seen them. Kids we'd like to throw over our knee and swat their bottom's good while their parents seem to not even be aware that their little darlings are being beasties. But nobody is allowed to spank a kid anymore . . . or are they?

From CNN:

More than 200,000 children were spanked or paddled in U.S. schools during the past school year, human rights groups reported Wednesday. Schools in 21 states can use corporal punishment.

"Every public school needs effective methods of discipline, but beating kids teaches violence, and it doesn't stop bad behavior," wrote Alice Farmer, the author of a joint report from Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. "Corporal punishment discourages learning, fails to deter future misbehavior and at times even provokes it."

Corporal punishment in schools remains legal in 21 U.S. states and is used frequently in 13: Missouri, Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Florida, according to data received from the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education and cited in the report.

It's easy, it's quick and frequently gets the message across. But Ms. Farmer said, "We need forms of discipline that makes children understand why what they did was wrong." Ah such lofty ambitions....

Let's consider overcrowded classrooms - I'm sure all the teachers who have 40 or so kids would love to sit down and explain to little Johnny or Janie what he/she did was wrong and why while the other 39 or so kids wait. What does the specialized attention teach the remainder of the class? Maybe Ms. Farmer needs to find funding for all overcrowded classrooms to have a dedicated disciplinarian that takes the little monsters, er, I mean misbehaving children out of the classroom to rationally discuss their wrong doing with them.

They article also states some statistics about minority students being spanked more than white students and children with disabilities being spanked more. I really don't want to get away from the main thing I'd like to look at - WHO should determine who should be spanked? Teachers or parents.

Andrea Cancellare said her then-13-year-old son was paddled -- or "swatted" -- three years ago for flicking rubber bands in class, despite the fact she had written a letter directing school officials in Alpine, Texas, not to use corporal punishment against him. School officials told her they could not find the letter when she complained.

. . .

Alpine Independent School District Superintendent Jose Cervantes said that both the principal and superintendent have taken other jobs, but for the past several years, the district has had a clear policy allowing parents to sign a waiver form and opt out of corporal punishment.

"It works on some, and it doesn't work on others," Cervantes said. "If you're one of the individuals that it does work on, yes, it will become a deterrent."

Cancellare disagrees. "I don't think it's the school's place to make decisions like that," she said. "I'm not necessarily in favor of that kind of punishment in the house either, but I feel like if somebody makes that decision, it should be the parent."

Ms. Cancellare, if you had spanked your son or properly disciplined him at home, maybe, just maybe, he would know how to avoid being punished at school. Just a thought.

Many of us that are a bit older were spanked and we are none the worse for wear. We survived. There is a far cry between a swat on the buttocks and a beating. I recall watching a teacher beat a classmate and that was over the line and I thought it was horrible. There is no comparison between a beating to a spanking. I've seen the difference. However a good, well timed swat was more of an embarrassment than painful and that embarrassment was enough to make me avoid doing again whatever it was that I was doing. Shame is powerful deterrent.

So, to spank or not to spank? - that is the question.