| Here are a few words of caution to parents who | | | | Tel.: (501) 682-4204 FAX: (501) 682 1079 |
| have children in schools that use violent | | | | COLORADO |
| punishments, a.k.a. paddling. They need to | | | | Office of the Commissioner of Education |
| anticipate disingenuousness on the part of | | | | Colorado Department of Education |
| educators and administrators who typically do not | | | | 201 East Colfax Avenue |
| invite dialog with the public on this topic. When | | | | Denver, CO 80203-1799 |
| drawn into discussions about "discipline," school | | | | Tel.: (303) 866-6808 FAX: (303) 866-6938 |
| officials are apt to trot out those familiar, | | | | FLORIDA |
| well-rehearsed, stock responses, the purpose of | | | | Office of the Commissioner of Education |
| which is to divert criticism and lull parents. | | | | Florida Department of Education |
| MYTH - Corporal punishment is used only after all | | | | Capitol Building, Room PL 08 |
| other means have failed and is governed by strict | | | | Tallahassee, FL 32301 |
| guidelines. | | | | Tel.: (904) 487-1785 FAX: (904)488-1492 |
| FACT - The number of pupils beaten will always | | | | GEORGIA |
| be grossly underestimated because school | | | | Office of the State Superintendent of Schools |
| administrators are savvy enough to AVOID | | | | Twin Towers East |
| saying things that might alarm the public or draw | | | | Atlanta, GA 30334-5001 |
| attention to themselves. Furthermore, What does | | | | Tel.: (404) 657-0516 |
| 'strict guidelines' mean? More often than not, | | | | IDAHO |
| violent punishments are used as a first response | | | | Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction |
| for trivial offenses. Guidelines, where they exist at | | | | Idaho Department of Education |
| all, exist more on paper than in practice. As a | | | | Len B. Jordan Office Building |
| general rule, reliance on fear, force and violence in | | | | 650 West State Street |
| educational settings is inversely proportional to the | | | | P.O. Box 83720 |
| level of competence of the educators involved. | | | | Boise, ID 83720 |
| The least competent tend to be the most violent. | | | | Tel.: (208) 334-3300 FAX: (208) 334-2228 |
| They are also the most resistant to reform and | | | | INDIANA |
| most rejecting of other methods to correct | | | | Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction |
| unacceptable behavior. | | | | Indiana Department of Education |
| MYTH - Teachers' right to resort to corporal | | | | State House, Room 229 |
| punishment must be retained because certain | | | | Indianapolis, IN 46204-2798 |
| students can't be controlled by any other means. | | | | Tel.: (317) 232-6665 FAX: (317) 232-8004 |
| FACT - Violent punishment causes far more bad | | | | KANSAS |
| behavior than it corrects, if it corrects at all. The | | | | Office of the Commissioner of Education |
| more some children are subject to educator | | | | 120 South East Tenth Avenue |
| violence, the more misbehaved they become. The | | | | Topeka, KS 66612-1182 |
| very act of physical punishment destroys trust | | | | Tel.: (913) 296-3202 FAX: (913) 296-7933 |
| and engenders hostility toward the institution that | | | | KENTUCKY |
| is supposed to be serving them. As for children | | | | Office of the Commissioner of Education |
| who conform outwardly due to fear of | | | | Kentucky Department of Education |
| punishment, they are receiving an education | | | | Capitol Plaza Tower - 500 Mero Street |
| mainly in one subject area: the abuse of power. | | | | Frankfort, KY 40601 |
| Some of them will put that lesson into practice at | | | | Tel.: (502) 564-3141 FAX: (502) 564-5680 |
| the earliest opportunity. | | | | LOUISIANA |
| MYTH - Well-behaved children have nothing to | | | | Office of the Superintendent of Education |
| worry about. | | | | Louisiana Department of Education |
| FACT - Wherever pupil beating is allowed, all | | | | 626 North 4th Street, 12th Floor |
| children worry about it. They know that punishers | | | | Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9064 |
| typically act on impulse and are rarely, if ever, | | | | Tel.: (504) 342-3602 FAX: (504) 342-7316 |
| called upon to justify their actions before or after | | | | MISSISSIPPI |
| the fact. A steady diet of fear and anxiety | | | | Office of the Superintendent of Education |
| impedes learning and, moreover, is dangerous to | | | | State Department of Education |
| children's health. | | | | 550 High Street, Room 501 |
| MYTH - This method of pupil management has | | | | Jackson, MS 39201 |
| been in use for many years and it is | | | | Tel.: (601) 359-3512 FAX: (601) 359-3242 |
| overwhelmingly supported by parents and the | | | | MISSOURI |
| public. | | | | Office of the Commissioner of Education |
| FACT - It is true that violent pupil management | | | | Missouri Department of Elementary |
| has been used throughout recorded history. But | | | | & Secondary Education |
| today, only the most culturally backward places | | | | 205 Jefferson Street, 6th Floor |
| continue to use it. In almost the entire democratic | | | | Jefferson City, MO 65102 |
| world, violent punishment of schoolchildren is illegal, | | | | Tel.: (572) 751-4446 FAX: (573) 751-1179 |
| and nowhere is it making a comeback. The | | | | NEW MEXICO |
| dwindling number of parents who approve of | | | | Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction |
| these methods are themselves the products of | | | | New Mexico Department of Education |
| such a system. Naturally, they feel reassured | | | | Education Building |
| when they see teachers at school modeling the | | | | 300 Don Gaspar |
| same bad behavior that they use on their own | | | | Santa Fe, NM 87501-2786 |
| children at home. Violent parents and violent | | | | Tel.: (505) 827-6688 FAX: (505) 827-6520 |
| teachers alike delude themselves when they claim | | | | NORTH CAROLINA |
| that their methods are universally approved. | | | | Office of the State Superintendent of Public |
| MYTH -- It works. | | | | Education |
| FACT -- If it worked, why do punishers have to | | | | North Carolina Department of Public Instruction |
| keep punishing? And why are our maximum | | | | Education Building |
| security prisons filled with violent felons who were | | | | 301 North Wilmington Street |
| reared and educated by these very same | | | | Raleigh, NC 27601-2825 |
| methods? Parents tend to trust educators who, | | | | Tel.: (919) 715-1277 FAX: (919) 715-1278 |
| after all, are highly trained in their specialty and | | | | OHIO |
| are licensed by the state. And virtually all parents | | | | Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction |
| want to believe that those who take charge of | | | | Ohio Department of Education |
| their child at school are motivated by genuine, | | | | 65 South Front Street, Room 810 |
| nurturing feelings toward the child. Educators | | | | Columbus, OH 43215-4183 |
| recognize and pander to this powerful, natural | | | | Tel.: (614) 466-3304 FAX: (614) 644-5960 |
| desire. Deliberate vagueness about the details | | | | OKLAHOMA |
| serves the needs of both parties: the practical | | | | Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction |
| needs of the educators and the emotional needs | | | | Oklahoma State Department of Education |
| of the parents. Responsible, thoughtful parents, | | | | Hodge Education Building |
| however, need to bear in mind that they are | | | | 2500 North Lincoln Boulevard |
| delegating their most important responsibility to | | | | Oklahoma City, OK 73105-4599 |
| total strangers - strangers who have their own | | | | Tel.: (405) 521-4887 FAX: (405) 421-6205 |
| agenda, who vary widely in their level of | | | | PENNSYLVANIA (Some school districts ban |
| competence, who operate with minimal | | | | corporal punishment) |
| supervision and with near-absolute impunity. Few | | | | Office of the Secretary of Education |
| people would hand over their car keys in the | | | | Pennsylvania Department of Education |
| same circumstances, with the same degree of | | | | 333 Market Street. 10th Floor |
| trust. Readers who visit the state education Web | | | | Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333 |
| sites listed below and look for the word "paddle" | | | | Tel.: (717) 787-5820 FAX (717) 787-7222 |
| or the phrase "corporal punishment" will come up | | | | SOUTH CAROLINA |
| empty-handed. One would never guess that in | | | | Office of the State Superintendent of Education |
| these school systems children are beaten in their | | | | South Carolina Department of Education |
| pelvic area with wooden weapons between 1/3 | | | | 1006 Rutledge Building |
| and 1/2 million times annually according to the | | | | 1429 Senate Street |
| most conservative estimates. Some researchers | | | | Columbia, SC 29201 |
| estimate the number of legal pupil beatings in the | | | | Tel.: (803) 734-8492 FAX: (803) 734-4426 |
| 22 pupil beating states at about 1 million per year. | | | | TENNESSEE |
| Small wonder nobody's talking! | | | | Office of the Commissioner of Education |
| States which allow corporal punishment: | | | | Tennessee Department of Education |
| ALABAMA | | | | Sixth Floor, Gateway Plaza |
| Office of the Superintendent of Education | | | | 710 James Robertson Parkway |
| Alabama Department of Education | | | | Nashville, TN 37243-0375 |
| Gordon Persons Office Building | | | | Tel.: (615) 741-2731 FAX: (615) 741-6236 |
| 50 North Ripley Street | | | | TEXAS |
| P.O. Box 302102 | | | | Office of the Commissioner of Education |
| Montgomery, AL 36130-2101 | | | | Office of the Texas Education Agency |
| Tel.: (334) 242-9702 FAX: (334) 242-9708 | | | | William B. Travis Building |
| ARIZONA | | | | 1701 North Congress Avenue |
| Office of the Director | | | | Austin, TX 78701-1494 |
| Arizona Department of Education | | | | Tel.: (512) 463-5825 FAX: (512) 463-9008 |
| State Capitol | | | | WYOMING |
| 1700 W. Washington | | | | Office of the State Department of Public |
| Phoenix, AZ 85007 | | | | Instruction |
| Tel.: (602) 542-5460 FAX(602) 542-5440 | | | | Wyoming Department of Education |
| ARKANSAS | | | | 2300 Capitol Avenue, 2nd Floor |
| Office of the Director | | | | Hathaway Building |
| Arkansas Department of Education | | | | Cheyenne, WY 82002-0050 |
| Four State Capitol Mall, Room 304 A | | | | Tel. |
| Little Rock, AR 72201-1071 | | | | |