North Carolina’s Shame: The Unchecked Brutality of Corporal Punishment in Our Schools
It's time to end the archaic and harmful practice of corporal punishment in North Carolina’s educational system
It’s 2025, yet North Carolina clings to a barbaric relic of the past: corporal punishment in public schools.
While the rest of the nation progresses, my state subjects children to physical discipline, inflicting lasting harm and perpetuating a cycle of violence.
This isn’t just a policy failure; it’s a moral disgrace.
People are breaking our future for convenience in the present.
The Grim Reality
In the 2022-2023 school year, North Carolina reported multiple instances of corporal punishment across several school districts.
Robeson County led with 88 occurrences, with 90% involving Native American students from the Lumbee Tribe.
“It’s truly sad that our state laws explicitly legalize the intentional infliction of pain on children.
In 2011, the State Board of Education passed a resolution recommending to the General Assembly that corporal punishment be prohibited statewide. Though legislators declined to take action yet again, more local districts dropped the practice, and in 2016 there are just two districts still hitting students as a form of discipline.
Though it now occurs here rarely, North Carolina remains on the list of nineteen states that allow corporal punishment, which tarnishes our state’s image and, most importantly, means it is still legal for school officials to intentionally inflict pain on children. It is beyond time for our state’s elected officials to stop this ineffective and archaic practice. Our children deserve better.” - Tom Vitaglione
This disproportionate impact on minority children is not only alarming but also highlights systemic biases that exacerbate the injustice.
Not only are children getting hurt, but some kids are getting hurt more than others, for no other reason than what they look like, or where they are from.
The Toll on Our Children
Decades of research unequivocally demonstrate the detrimental effects of corporal punishment.
The World Health Organization states that such practices trigger harmful psychological and physiological responses, including increased aggression, anxiety disorders, depression, and a host of other mental health issues.
Moreover, the American Academy of Pediatrics warns that physical punishment can lead to poorer academic achievements and a hostile learning environment…
How do any of these results have a place in our educational system?
Better yet, how does even the potential of actualized results align with our mission as caretakers and educators of today’s youth?
A National Embarrassment
While 33 states have banned corporal punishment in public schools, North Carolina remains among the dwindling minority that permits this archaic practice.
This not only tarnishes our state’s reputation but also undermines the safety and well-being of our students.
The persistence of corporal punishment reflects a blatant disregard for children’s rights and a stubborn resistance to progressive, evidence-based disciplinary methods.
If you want there to be true social justice, stop looking at blacks, asians, and LGBTQ+ as the populations who lack equality, and start looking at the youth.
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There are 19 states still using corporal punishment in their school system, NC needs to make it 18; then, we can focus on the next…
It’s time for North Carolina to abolish corporal punishment in all its forms.
We must demand that our legislators enact policies that protect our children from physical harm and promote positive, supportive disciplinary approaches. Our students' well-being and our educational system's moral integrity depend on this.
The continued use of corporal punishment in North Carolina’s schools is a stain on our state’s conscience.
We fail our children and compromise their futures by perpetuating this outdated and harmful practice.
Immediate action is imperative to align our educational system with the values of dignity, respect, and progress.
- Zac Small
PS: I will continue to address this publicly and take matters further and more direct to those in charge over the coming year(s). Things need to change for our kids, and the adults need to do the changing.