Swat Heard Round the World Wasn't Heard in Texas, Apparently

So, hey. What the hell is wrong with Texas?  Not only are men spanking teenage girls, but their mothers are sorry that they complained.

Oh.

They didn't mean to embarrass their children or their school officials by "the swat heard round the world."

And they're not totally embarrassing themselves right now, am I right?

I mean, not to be a pearl clutcher, but in the parenting groups I frequent "swats on the bum" is a phrase used to distinguish discipline from abuse. From parents. Why is it okay for strangers to strike people? Ever? An adult man shouldn't hit another adult man in a bar or on the street or in his home or anywhere, and an adult man shouldn't hit an adult woman ever, and an adult woman shouldn't hit a woman or a man or a child. No one should be hitting other people.

We are not in the stone ages. We can use our words. And when words are used on us, we can consider our actions and make changes for our future.

Do school officials really need the leeway to smack their students around? I don't care if they're 15-year-old girls who are on the honor roll, or 17-year-old boys wreaking havoc. You don't hit kids.

And lest you think it's just Texas, think again.

Only thirty one states have banned corporal punishment. Florida is not one of them.

Maybe it's just me, but you think we could take another look at these policies?

I was shocked to learn that Connecticut, where I went to school, only banned physical punishment in school systems in 1989.

I had always been under the false assumption that these barbaric tools weren't being used in the United States, and hadn't been used in ages.

Wrong.

"Many states in US have banned its use in schools. It is banned in 31 states and the District of Columbia. However, in some states, school children misbehaving can be disciplined using this punishment that does not involve 'holding a student or struggling with a student'.

Some states in the U.S. have banned it by law and some by regulation. It has been found that in 2006-2007 school year, 223,190 school children in the U.S. were subjected to physical punishment. This shows an 18% drop since the early 1980s. This trend has been steadily dropping in many states.

However, there are many states which have educators and parents, still using it as the only resort of punishment."

See a table of states and stats here.  Don't get excited. It's down at the bottom. Scroll.

Anyway, here I'd been shocked and dismayed at my husband's tales of canings in South Africa (okay, so I'm still shocked and dismayed), thinking that the U.S. was totally above that.

Guess not. And the worst of it is, people don't want to change it. People are embarrassed, not for the act itself, but for drawing negative attention to it.

Well, excuse me, Texas. I'll just go back to my own business now.

Except that a child getting "swatted" or hit or spanked, choice or no, by any type of official in any public building where she is supposed to be receiving education isn't really a private matter, in my opinion.

So, sorry you're embarrassed.

But not really.

Stop hitting students. Everyone.