S J Seymour

Everyone is unique, but we are all infinitely more alike than we are different.

My site is meant to introduce you to my novels,
my opinions, and some investment advice. Soon I may write about genetic genealogy.
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Help End Corporal Punishment

The issue of corporal punishment in schools has arisen again. The school year has begun around America, and so have reports of an old-fashioned system of physical punishment sanctioned by the Supreme Court.

An article here specifies which states do and do not allow corporal punishment. By law, localities govern who can administer punishment.



Parents here in New Jersey are not allowed to use spanking as a form of discipline with my children, and haven't been for at least three decades. Spanking was thought to lead to more violence and child abuse and would have brought complaints and been swiftly punished with instant removal of the child by the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, within which is the relevant, formerly scandal-plagued Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS).

I'm surprised to see corporal punishment still exists. According to this firsthand video, a female student in Texas with good grades was not responsible for doing anything wrong (her friend supposedly cheated) and yet this student was punished. A school administrator even wants to expand the policy to allow educators of both sexes to use the paddle. (This administrator obviously expects his local parents to approve. Currently, only administrators of the same sex, by law, can administer physical punishment in that high school.)

Do you agree with all current local policies on corporal punishment or should they be the same nationwide? Is corporal punishment necessary, and the best method to keep kids in line? Do you see it as child abuse? Should parents be allowed to spank?

After all, if parents can't spank their own children (in some states), why can educators just go ahead and punish, and legally get away with it without oversight?

I would rather see the corporal punishment policy entirely deleted from the books, and educators properly educated so they would not resort to corporal punishment at all.

And why is physical punishment more prevalent in the Southern states?

Most important, why hasn't the Supreme Court assumed leadership of the problem? Why doesn't the Supreme Court take a more aware, better-educated, more homogeneous, nationwide approach?

Sorry, only questions and opinions. I'd rather have answers and powerful solutions.