In 19 states, (click here) it's legal for teachers or principals to punish public school students by hitting them repeatedly instead of just giving them detention....
...Teachers or principals may strike students three or more times on the buttocks or upper thighs with a wooden paddle, which is often 15 inches long. In some cases, paddles are made from shaved-down baseball bats. Students may also be hit with a hand or taped-together rulers....
...The first swat knocked [my son] down ... when he fell, the principal said he had five seconds to get back up, or he’d start all over again ... it probably took him a minute and a half to get up again. They gave him two more swats. Then the principal had to go to the nurse’s office to get the asthma inhaler, [my son] couldn’t breathe ... When he came home from school, my wife found the marks on him. … He had severe bruising on his buttocks and on his lower back. His butt was just covered....
