Spare the Rod

To spank or not to spank is a judgment best left to parents, not to teachers, and Gov. George Deukmejian should sign into law a bill that would ban corporal punishment in public schools.

Current state law allows the practice if a school district and parents approve and about half of them do, primarily in districts located in central California. Most big city districts, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, have banned spanking in public schools, as have eight other states.

Discipline is essential to education, but enforcing discipline with physical punishment may also teach children that might always makes right or that resorting to violence is an acceptable way to solve a problem.

There are legal as well as philosophical problems with spanking. What happens when a parent, who has authorized the punishment, is surprised by the severity of a spanking? Who is liable if a parent charges child abuse or threatens a lawsuit?

Many parents, who remember being swatted with a ruler or worse as children, believe that sparing the rod spoils the child. That is a maxim to be pursued at home, not in the classroom.

AB 1617, sponsored by Assemblyman Sam Farr (D-Carmel), is supported by more than a dozen organizations, including the California Teachers Assn.; the California Congress of Parents, Teachers and Students; the California Medical Assn., and the American Civil Liberties Union. Gov. Deukmejian ought to make California the ninth state to put reason over rulers.