I posted an article the other day about corporal punishment in schools, admonishing that it seemed awfully God-d*&%^-ed barbaric in our supposedly enlightened age. I couldn't seem to locate the story I found before, but what I discovered since then is that 20+ states still allow paddling and other corporal punishment in the classroom. Quite honestly, after looking at this list, it doesn't seem all that surprising to me that the lion's share of states that continue to allow corporal punishment are in the south. Nor does it surprise me that New Jersey is one of the states that doesn't allow corporal punishment; you wanna talk about paybacks bein' a bi*ch.....I guess you can't really run the risk as a state of teachers getting mysteriously knee-capped, or worse, on a regular basis. To my relief, as it reads below, Michigan is one of the states that doesn't allow corporal punishment. The big part of it is, the debate still rages on about capital punichment being the proper response to crime, and given what the research tells us about how the mind of the typical teenager or young person is different from that of an adult, well, I still maintain that there are better responses than the paddle. If you haven't read the research, the latest line on the adolescent mind says that your average young person, due to the fact that growth is still going on in the frontal and pre-frontal cortices of their brains, (the ones that control executive function,) makes the basic operation of their decision-making procedure fairly simple; if the potential for reward (in their minds,) outweighs the potential for risk, (no matter how high it seems, at times,) they'll still do whatever they intended to. The hard part of this is that,
a) juveniles, adolescents and young adults frequently are not very good judges of risk potential, (as the auto insurance rates among 16-20 year-olds pretty much confirms,) and,
b) as much as we are now discovering about how some parents resort to corporal punishment to the point where it almost qualifies as abuse in many cases, a lot of kids are inured to it; it means nothing to get a smack with a paddle, because mom or dad does 100, or 1,000 times worse!

Same rationale applies in my mind to expulsion; a child exhibits inappropriate behaviors in school, so we won't let him or her come; that's idiotic! To this child, school is no particular joy to begin with, so they misbehave and get a "vacation." Yeah, that solved a lot! Have we as a society not figured this out yet?! The punitive trend in Michigan is either compulsory "Saturday School," where the student has to come, and have homework to do for several hours, and is not allowed to talk, socialize, etc, or "In-School-Suspension;" same concept, the student is isolated, but this happens over the course of a day or two during the normal school week.


CORPORAL PUNISHMENT
The section of the Revised School Code that addresses this issue is contained in the Michigan Compiled Laws under MCL 380.1312.
Corporal Punishment Prohibited
Corporal punishment against a pupil by an employee, volunteer or contractor of a local or intermediate school district, or public school academy is prohibited by section 380.1312 of the Revised School Code. The law defines corporal punishment as "the deliberate infliction of physical pain by hitting, paddling, spanking, slapping, or any other physical force used as a means of discipline." It does not include physical pain caused by reasonable physical activities associated with athletic training.
Reasonable Physical Force
Although the use of corporal punishment is prohibited, the use of reasonable physical force necessary to maintain order and control for the purpose of providing an environment conducive to safety and learning is permitted in the following situations:
􀂃 To restrain or remove a pupil whose behavior is interfering with the orderly exercise and performance of school district or public school academy functions within a school or at a school-related activity, if that pupil has refused to comply with a request to refrain from further disruptive acts
􀂃 For self-defense or the defense of another.
􀂃 To prevent a pupil from inflicting harm on himself or herself.
􀂃 To quell a disturbance that threatens physical injury to any person.
􀂃 To obtain possession of a weapon or other dangerous object upon or within the control of a pupil.
􀂃 To protect property.
An individual who uses corporal punishment or physical force against a pupil which is not reasonably necessary may be disciplined by the school district board or public school academy. In determining whether the person has used reasonably necessary physical force, ". . . deference is given to the reasonable good-faith judgments made by that person."
Code of Student Conduct
The local or intermediate school district, or public school academy must develop and implement a code of student conduct and enforce its provisions regarding pupil misconduct in the classroom, elsewhere on school premises, on a school bus or other school-related vehicle, or at a school-sponsored activity or event whether or not it is held on school premises.
Alternatives to Corporal Punishment
Local and intermediate school districts and public school academies must approve and distribute to each employee, volunteer, and contractor a list of alternatives to the use of corporal punishment. The Department of Education has developed guidelines that illustrate alternative methods to the use of corporal punishment.
This information is provided as a service of the Michigan Department of Education and is distributed with the understanding that the Department is not engaged in rendering legal advice. Those individuals desiring or requiring legal advice should seek the services of an attorney
Where the states stand on corporal punishment:
Alabama--Legal Alaska--Illegal Arizona--Legal Arkansas--Legal California--Illegal Colorado--Legal Connecticut--Illegal Delaware--Illegal District of Columbia--N/A Florida--Legal Georgia--Legal Hawaii--Illegal Idaho--Legal Illinois--Illegal Indiana--Legal Iowa--Illegal Kansas--Legal Kentucky--Legal Louisiana--Legal Maine--Illegal Maryland--Illegal Massachusetts--Illegal Michigan--Illegal Minnesota--Illegal Mississippi--Legal Missouri--Legal Montana--Illegal Nebraska--Illegal Nevada--Illegal New Hampshire--Illega lNew Jersey--Illegal New Mexico--Legal New York--Illegal North Carolina--Legal North Dakota--Illegal Ohio--Illegal Oklahoma--Legal Oregon--Illegal Pennsylvania--Illegal Rhode Island--Illegal South Carolina--Legal South Dakota--Illegal Tennessee--Legal Texas--Legal Utah--Illegal Vermont--Illegal Virginia--Illegal Washington--Illegal West Virginia--Illegal Wisconsin--Illegal Wyoming--Legal

I'm quite certain I'm not done hearing about this whole issue, but I've made my point, and as usual, everyone else in the known universe is entitled to theirs.