Corporal punishment seen rife in U.S. schools
DALLAS (Reuters) -
More than 200,000 children were hit as
punishment in U.S. schools last year and in the South more
blacks than whites are struck, two human rights groups said in
a report released on Wednesday.
Twenty-one U.S. states still permit the use of corporal
punishment in schools
Texas and Mississippi children as
young as 3 are struck for transgressions as minor as gum
chewing
The punishment often involves hitting a child on the
buttocks with a long wooden board, or paddle.
In 13 states in the U.S. South where corporal punishment is
the most prevalent, African-American girls are twice as likely
to be hit as their white counterparts
African-American students are punished at 1.4 times the
rate that would be expected given their numbers in the student
population
several cases in which children were
seriously injured
students with physical and mental
disabilities were subjected to disproportionate rates of
physical punishment
clipped from: news.yahoo.com 
