Dear Editor,
Letter writer Roger Williams would have readers believe that scholarly research studies support the hitting of children in schools. This is a complete distortion. The overwhelming body of research finds just the opposite. Students raised with corporal punishment, even the threat of it, are more likely to drop out, have low scores on national achievement tests, commit acts of vandalism at school and have anger problems or sexual issues. We have laws protecting wives, nursing home patients, even animals from the acts he espouses.
School corporal punishment has now been banned in 109 countries. None has ever reversed the ban except Nazi Germany, and it was again banned after the Nazi’s were defeated. If abandoning this outmoded practice led to any deterioration in society or education, it would have easily been re-instated. It has not. Striking school children has no place in modern society.
Yours faithfully,
Robert E Fathman, PhD,
President National [US]
Coalition to Abolish
Corporal Punishment in
Schools
