After an elementary school teacher in Maryland was recently charged with several counts of assault for choking, punching, kicking, and/or scratching eight of her first graders, Washington Post blogger Valerie Strauss recalls the failure of Congress to pass a bill to end corporal punishment in schools.
In June, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) introduced the Ending Corporal Punishment in Schools Act—which would do just what it says—but the bill never made it out of its assigned committee, reports the Post.
Although almost half of school corporal punishment cases occur in Texas and Mississippi, it’s still legal in 20 states and was responsible for 10,000-20,000 children seeking medical treatment in the 2006-2007 school year. Studies show that it most commonly occurs in rural schools and is directed toward male and nonwhite students, according to Strauss.