Spare the Rod...

Because the ACLU has nothing better to do, they're all upset over the use of corporal punishment in our nation's schools. CNN reports that in the 06-07 school year, schools reported paddling or spanking more than 200,000 students.

".... Beating kids teaches violence, and it doesn't stop bad behavior," wrote Alice Farmer, the author of a joint report from Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union. "Corporal punishment discourages learning, fails to deter future misbehavior and at times even provokes it."

"Beating" kids may teach violence, but we're not talking about Singapore-style caning. Spanking/swatting/paddling kids teaches them that unacceptable behavior yields unpleasant results and it sure as heck discourages bad behavior. I can distinctly remember hearing the swats from the principal's paddle echo through the halls of my elementary school. One look in kids eyes and I promise you would be convinced that the fear of being paddled kept behavior in check.

Beyond corporal punishment in schools, I remember to a T the exact moment I realized that right behavior meant no more spankings. Once that light bulb went off, the spankings went away and everybody was happy.

"When you talk to local school officials, they point to the fact that it's quick and it's effective -- and that's true," Farmer said. "It doesn't take much time to administer corporal punishment, and you don't have to hire someone to run a detention or an after-school program."

Well, duh. Finally, ACLU Alice is talking sense. But she just has to keep talking...

"We need forms of discipline that makes children understand why what they did was wrong."

I'm not a child psychologist, but I did spend several years as a child back in the 1980s and I'm here to testify that 99 times out of 100, I knew darn well why what I did was wrong.

Since real discipline is out, I guess she'd be in favor of detention. Of course sooner or later, parents will complain that students are being embarrassed or singled out and it too will be considered cruel and unusual. Besides, anyone who has ever seen The Breakfast Club can tell you that while it may seem like a punishment initially, the long term effects of detention are kids running rampant through the halls, dancing in the library, smoking pot and creating art with their dandruff. Un.Accept.Able. The only other idea I can think of is time out, which to anyone over three, would actually be a reward.

The bottom line (Ha! Get it? "Bottom" line?) is that spanking works. Sure, it's not fun and it probably does "hurt me more than it hurts you," but it works! As the Bible says, "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him" (Proverbs 13:24). Of course the key of this verse is love. "Beating" is unacceptable and wrong. Discipline is love. In a way, that's why the "hurts me more than it hurts you line" works. When I disobeyed, I was not only disrupting polite society, but I was "hurting" my parents and authority figures.

Interestingly, two of the few remaining state that love their students are Missouri with 5,159 swats and Oklahoma with a whopping 14,828 (Ha! Whopping!). Look at the "blue" states on the map below and ask yourself, "Where to all the normal, happy people live?" For once, I'm glad I'm proud to be from a blue state.