Educating our children properly is an important task. Parents do what they can to give their children the knowledge they need, but the bulk of the work of educating our young people falls on teachers, principals, and other education professionals. Parents trust these experts to treat their children well and teach them well. We also ask them to maintain good discipline in the classroom environment. Each teacher has their own way of doing things. But when it comes to raising and treating children, opinions can vary widely as to what is best (what is correct). Perhaps the most divergent opinion among people, even among professionals, concerns the appropriate punishment for bad behavior, particularly the appropriateness of corporal punishment. Even more controversial is the debate over whether or not the professionals we rely on to educate our children should be allowed to use corporal punishment to discipline them. There are those who support corporal punishment in schools and those who do not. The disparity in thinking on the issue is reflected in the fact that 19 states allow corporal punishment in schools and the other 29 prohibit the practice (Nies). There is no federal ban on this practice and the Supreme Court has upheld the right of individual states to such decisions (Morones). Those who support its use believe it is effective. As writer Adam Cohen points out, among proponents of corporal punishment (Cohen), there is a long-standing notion in the Bible of "spare the rod and spoil the child." In Marion County, Florida, for example, a corporal punishment policy was passed. by the school board and it was passed by a vote of 3 to 2 (Morones). School board member and 14 year elementary school veteran...... middle of paper ...... because there is so much emotion surrounding the topic. Gordan Bauer and colleagues state that "unbiased discourse is difficult to achieve on such an emotionally charged topic... In scientific research, here emotionality is probably downplayed, considerable gaps exist in the literature which exclude the possibility to make conclusive statements about impact. corporal punishment in schools (Bauer, Dubanoski and Yamauchi 285). »The old adage says that it takes a village to raise a child. The “village” is currently divided on the issue of the use of corporal punishment in schools in this country. Regardless of point of view, everyone seeks to find the best practice for raising and educating children. Respectful debate should be the way to decide the issue, so that all sides can be considered and evaluated on their own merits..