Number of students hit, spanked, or subject to corporal punishment in the 2006-2007 school year, according to U.S. Education Department figures: 223,190
Number in 2000-2001: 342,038
Number of states that report more than 1,000 uses of corporal punishment per year: 13
Rank of Texas, Mississippi and Alabama among states most likely to use corporal punishment: 1, 2 and 3.
Ratio of boys paddled to girls: 4 to 1
Chance that a girl subject to corporal punishment is black: 2 out of 3
Percentage of students nationwide who are black: 17.
Percentage of corporal punishments nationwide meted out on black students: 35.6
Percentage of U.S. students classified as disabled: 10.7
Percentage of corporal punishments meted out on disabled students: 17.4
Percentage of Northeast, Upper Midwest and Pacific states that have banned corporal punishment: 100
Percentage of Southern states that have banned it: 0
Percentage of people in Twiggs County, Georgia who support the practice, according to a member of the community’s school board: 95
Average number of daily referrals for paddling reported by a former assistant principal in charge of discipline at a middle school in Meridian, Mississippi: 19-23 students
Single day record in the same school: 37 students.
Number of states and countries where corporal punishment is banned: 29, 106 countries, respectively
Sources: USA Today, Reuters, Human Rights Watch
(With apologies to the Harper’s Index)
Recent Comments