Digital Scholarship and Initiatives

This editorial favors banning corporal punishment in North Carolina schools, where each district can decide whether or not to allow use of it. Rationale used in the editorial includes: (1) recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics that spanking by used infrequently if at all; (2) policies on its use in North Carolina are "inconsistent and lack formal protocol," (3) spanking was used 297 times in Robeson County in 2005-2006, the second highest number of occurrences in the state; (4) the proposed state bill to ban corporal punishment would still allow personnel to "use force during major upheavals"; (5) some Education Department statistics show that African-American students receive corporal punishment twice as often as students of other races; (6) the majority of states do not allow corporal punishment; and (7) corporal punishment, if used, should be confined to the home.