Do you think corporal punishment should be reinstated in schools?

Hitting a kid - any kid - is not going to "shock them back into some sense of normalcy". Not all kids need to be spanked or punished by a virtual stranger (teachers or principals) in class.

If corporal punishment were still in practice when I was in the first grade, I would have been devastated and quit school then and there. I was accused of something I didn't do, and the teacher was convinced I was lying (although I wasn't). She made me sit up alongside her desk, scribbling with crayons on a piece of drawing paper. That lasted all morning, and I cried all the while. When we broke for lunch, she told me I was going too do it all afternoon, too. I went home and told my mother. She kept me home that afternoon, and we went to see the principal the next morning. The principal made us wait in the office while she went to the classroom. I never knew who said what to who, but she came back about twenty-five minutes later and said, "Take your daughter home and send her back tomorrow. It's all taken care of."

Thank you, Mrs. Landry! Regardless of what was said to whoever, I never forgot or forgave that teacher - and I never will. Being humiliated like that was worse than any spanking I might have gotten if they were still in force.

@MaryJanine The teacher who accused you of doing something you didn't do should have been pushed in front of the next bus.

I appreciate the thought. But at six years old, you don't think of such things. She threatened to put me back in kindergarten, I said, "No" when she said if I didn't tell her the truth, that's where I was going. (I didn't want to go back for reasons of my own, but my brother was in kindergarten that year and I didn't want to be in class with him!) I never forgave her, and even though she's now retired and Mrs. Landry is gone, I don't forget that easily.

@MaryJanine Playgrounds need whipping posts in the center of them. Forget those sissy paddles. These damn monsters need bullwhips! Pain and humiliation! That's what is needed. Grrrrrr....... Kiss the cannon ye yard rats!

Playgrounds? Who mentioned playgrounds? This happened in front of the class in front of God and everybody! Humiliation hurts just as bad when you are accused unjustly and get punished for something you didn't do in the first place. That little witch who accused me of scribbling on her artwork was lying through her teeth. I was nowhere NEAR her desk, damnit, and I was glad when she moved away.

And paddles aren't sissy. Those Fli-Back Contest models are large and thick and almost unbreakable. My mom used one of these on all four of us at one time or another - and it really hurt during and after usage.

King Arthur is looking for his steed. Please put him back in the stable and stop playing Crusaders. Thanks in advance.

@MaryJanine Oh goodness. I really didn't realize you were doing a specific post traumatic thing. I'm just saying there needs to be some serious re-thinking done in the western hemisphere when it comes to discipline. We are paying dearly for two generations that were spared the rod. Neglected altogether. It's not good, and it's pretty damn obvious it's not good. People started becoming complete idiots about the same time people started thinking children didn't need to go to the woodshed once in a while. No respect. No self control. No "true grit".

There ARE still some parents around who believe in spankings. Others just don't believe in it. You're not going to change the mindset of those who never raised their hand to a kid. I was spanked. So were my siblings. We all grew up without the "rod" being spared on any of us. I have no children of my own, but I babysat plenty for assorted neighborhood kids. nephews, and one niece. My sister spanked her two boys, my one brother his son, and the other brother his daughter (maybe three times in her life). Never did I raise my hand to any of these children - and I had not one bit of trouble.

Parents need to parent n hold kids accountable. Not Spanking, but kids must be held accountable.

I agree. My nephew is a few days away from 21. He had been boarding with Grandma and Grandpa, but he moved back in with his parents because my brother is not working (still trying to get a car accident settlement) and will get NOTHING if he goes back to work before he gets it and his mother is working short hours. He has two part-time jobs, and he is helping to buy groceries and pay bills. Anyway, when he first moved in, they were at the dinner table, and Ryne said something to his mother she didn't like, and she raised her hand as he stood up like she was going to spank him. Ryne turned on her and said, slowly, "Mom, don't you DARE!" His father backed him up, and all she said was, "Well..I didn't like the way he answered me."

Ryne is an adult (or almost). He is entitled to his opinion, as my brother and I are to ours. You don't spank an almost-21-year-old like he was a bad little kid.