In 20 U.S. states, students are exposed to the risk of being legally battered on their pelvic region by weapon-wielding adults employed by the school. (See photos.) This behavior is rationalized as being in the children's best interests, being safe and happening only rarely.

Those assumptions are false.

Physical punishment of schoolchildren is unsafe and counterproductive. Not one accredited teacher-training institution in the U.S. recommends punishing students by hitting them, nor gives instruction to undergraduates in the proper method for doing it. Their only instruction on the topic is DON'T! No other advanced democratic nation allows this practice.

Here's what you can do as a concerned citizen to help bring all U.S. schools into the 21st Century.

The Plan - Let's fill the governors' mail boxes with good advice on our topic.

Instructions - Step 1: Load your printer with 8.5" x 11" cardstock. The message shown in the below box will print postcard size 4-to-a-page from this link: http://nospank.net/bancp.pdf. Print the page, cut it into 4 quarters and fill in the blanks. Step 2: Print the page you are looking at on bond paper, and cut the list of governors representing paddling states shown below into address labels to be pasted on the blank side of each postcard. These cards require 28˘ postage.

Urge your friends and colleagues to participate in this campaign. Gather the kids around the table after dinner and arm them with glue sticks.

As a U.S. citizen and resident of ________________________, I am writing to urge the immediate abolition of corporal punishment of children in the schools of your state. By “corporal punishment,” I mean the battering of a student's pelvic region with a wooden paddle. Such treatment serves no positive educational purpose. Moreover, it exposes the child to serious health risks, and exposes the involved institution to serious civil liability. When done to an adult, the same act constitutes felony assault with a dangerous weapon — a crime resulting in prison time for a convicted perpetrator. Corporal punishment has no support among acknowledged leaders in the fields of education and public health. The teacher's paddle should have been buried long ago alongside the field boss’s whip. Sincerely, _____________________________

GOVERNORS OF STATES THAT ALLOW CORPORAL PUNISHMENT OF SCHOOLCHILDREN Governor Robert Bentley State Capitol 600 Dexter Avenue Montgomery, Alabama 36130 The Honorable Jan Brewer Governor of Arizona 1700 West Washington Phoenix, Arizona 85007 Governor Mike Beebe State Capitol Room 250 Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 Governor John W Hickenlooper 136 State Capitol Denver, Colorado 80203-1792 Governor Rick Scott State of Florida The Capitol 400 S. Monroe St. Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0001 Governor Nathan Deal The Office of the Governor 203 State Capitol Atlanta, Georgia 30334 L.C. "Butch" Otter Office of the Governor State Capitol P.O. Box 83720 Boise, Idaho 83720

Governor Mitch Daniels Office of the Governor State House Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 Governor Sam Brownback Capitol, 300 SW 10th Ave., Ste. 241S Topeka, Kansas 66612-1590 Governor Steve Beshear 700 Capitol Avenue, Suite 100 Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 Governor Bobby Jindal Office of the Governor PO Box 94004 Baton Rouge, Louisianna 70804 Governor Haley Barbour P.O. Box 139 Jackson, Mississippi 39205 Governor Jay Nixon Office of Governor P.O. Box 720 Jefferson City, Missouri 65102 Governor Susana Martinez Office of the Governor 490 Old Santa Fe Trail, Room 400 Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501

Governor Bev Perdue Office of the Governor Constituent Services Office 116 West Jones Street Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 Governor Mary Fallin Oklahoma State Capitol 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Room 212 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105 Governor Nikki Haley Office of the Governor 1205 Pendleton Street Columbia, South Carolina 29201 Governor Bill Haslam 1st Floor, State Capitol Nashville, Tennessee 37243 Governor Rick Perry Office of the Governor P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711-2428 Governor Matt Mead State Capitol 200 West 24th Street Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002-0010