one room schoolhouseHow's this for backwards: Which type of institution would you expect to allow the use of corporal punishment, prisons or public schools? If you guessed prisons, well, I have good news and bad news for you ... the good news is, you're probably a perfectly sane and logical human being.

The bad news is, you're wrong.

That's right, spanking in public schools is still allowed in -- get this -- 19 states. 19! 19 states in this here United States of America!

And it's a very lucky thing for me that I don't happen to live in any of those states, because if some teacher beat one of my kids with a wooden paddle -- parental consent is not generally required, by the way -- well, that would be a very bad day. Very bad things would happen. And I would not feel the least bit guilty about those very bad things.

Right about now you're probably wondering if you happen to live in any of those states. Here's the list:

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Colorado
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Wyoming

If you're still reading this, I'm going to assume you live in a non-spanking state, because the rest of you are probably already on the way to your kid's school to make sure nobody's smacking him with a wooden paddle.

I honestly didn't think this kind of thing happened anymore. Sure, my mother and father got rapped on the knuckles with a ruler from time to time, but that was over 50 years ago and they had nuns for teachers. Maybe -- probably -- there are some parents out there who believe the occasional beating "keeps a kid in line" and trust teachers to be good and fair people. Which could explain why no one has ever put a stop to this practice.

But the time has come. This needs to end. Immediately.

Do you live in one of the 19 states that still allows spanking in schools?

 

Image via Desiree Williams/Flickr