The Board of Education

Daryl Starbird was famous. You may not know who he was, but if you've ever seen "American Graffiti," you know his work. His job for that movie was to designb and build the custom cars for the show. His designs were featured on model cars for years, but I suppoise kids don't go for that stuff any more. Anyway, he was famous.
As a newly-minted teacher in 1972, I had the misfortune of having his son in class as a 9th grader (or maybe he had the misfortune of having me as his teacher). Anyway, young Starbird was apt to run afoul of the regulations on occasion, and on one such occasion, I'd had enough and threatened corporal punishment...which was not only accepted in Kansas at the time but was encouraged by the principal of the junior high where I began my career. At that time, only two states had laws prohibiting such contact.
Having backed myself into a corner by issuing the ultimatum, I was forced to apply a few swats to his backside with a board made by the shop teacher, complete with a handle and little holes drilled in the "business end" in order to increase the educational impact. Having done the deed, I was almost ill, knowing that I'd taught him nothing except to be afraid when I was looking and more sneaky when I wasn't."That was back in the 'old days'" I hear you say. Not so fast.
Last year, according to an estimate of the Department of Education, 223,190 public school children were meted out corporal punishment. While 28 states at this juncture forbid corporal punishment (with Ohio being the latest addition to the list), it is plain that there are many that still see it as a "viable option when other means of correcting behavior have failed to produce the desired results," according to Roy McCoy, a junior high principal( and he's my "pal"?) in Louisiana, a state that allows corporal punishment though some districts in the state prohibit that means of discipline.
And, according to an article in the New York Times, a disproportionate number of those students being physically punsihed are students who have some kind of disability. As reported in the Times, 19% of all students who were reported as corporally punished were students with disabilties...whose total number comprises only 14% of the entire population in public schools.
My dad was a BIG fan of corporal punishment. As a former practitioner (albeit briefly) of this form of discipline in schools, I can guarantee you that its effectivesness is highly questionable, at best. Such "external motivation" is incredibly short-term and creates a whole new set of problems.
Being a parent or a teacher isn't easy, but this isn't the way to gain some sort of conformity to regulation.