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The U.S. House of Representatives: Stop legal teacher-on-child abuse!
  1. Signatures
    472 out of 10,000
    Petitioning
    1. The U.S. House of Representatives (+ 21 others)
      Petitioning
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      • The U.S. House of Representatives
      • Rep. George Miller (CA-07)
      • Rep. John Kline (MN-02)
      • Rep. Lou Barletta (PA-11)
      • Rep. Judy Biggert (IL-13)
      • Rep. Tim Bishop (NY-01)
      • Rep. Bob Goodlatte (VA-06)
      • Rep. Mazie Hirono (HI-02)
      • Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12)
      • Rep. Mike Kelly (PA-03)
      • Rep. Dale Kildee (MI-05)
      • Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH-10)
      • Rep. Kristi Noem (SD-01)
      • Rep. Tom Petri (WI-06)
      • Rep. Glenn Thompson (PA-05)
      • Rep. John Tierney (MA-06)
      • Rep. Tim Walberg (MI-07)
      • Rep. Joe Wilson (SC-02)
      • Rep. Todd Platts (PA-19)
      • Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15)
      • Rep. Jason Altmire (PA-04)
      • The US Education and Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline
  2. Created By
    Whitney Trotta
    Verona, WI
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates
Why This Is Important

Teacher-on-child abuse is rampant in 19 states in America, but you won’t hear about it because it’s still legal. That’s right, it’s legal for teachers to beat children in 19 states. They can beat a child for failing a test, talking out of turn, or just about anything they think is worthy of a beating. They call these beatings “discipline,” but they’re actually assault.

Proposed legislation seeks to end teacher-on-student violence in schools, but we need to demand congress to support the bill. It’s urgent we act now to help end this archaic practice and join the rest of the industrialized world in banning corporal punishment.

When an adult hits an adult, it is called an assault. What are we saying to our children when we approve this assault of them?

Plenty of people say, “I was hit as a child, and I turned out all right.” But, that doesn’t diminish the damage a child experiences after being beaten. Nor does it change the complete lack of logic in this issue. Think about it:


It’s illegal for an adult to hit an adult.
It’s illegal for an adult to beat a dog.
It’s illegal for a prison guard to hit a prisoner.

Yet somehow, it’s still legal for a teacher to hit a small, defenseless child. And it happens more than 220,000 times each year.

If your boss at work took a paddle to your backside and hit you so hard that it left bruises and welts, you wouldn’t tolerate it, and you would have the legal resources to fight back. Let’s give our children those same legal rights and protections against assault.

One bad grade won’t follow a student for life, but the effects of corporal punishment can destroy a child’s faith in school and interest in academics, and model violence as an acceptable option. And national research shows that children who experience corporal punishment become adults who perpetrate violence.

Join us in ending school violence by asking members of Congress to co-sponsor HR 3027 and see that this bill is voted for to end corporal punishment in the United States. If children really are our future, let’s start taking better care of them.

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Stop legal teacher-on-child abuse!

Greetings,

I am writing to ask your support in ending teacher-on-child abuse. We currently call it corporal punishment, which glorifies physical abuse and legalizes violence. To end it, we need you to co-sponsor HR-3027. This bill will outlaw corporal punishment in schools in the remaining 19 states where it is still legal and teachers are permitted, and often encouraged, to beat students as a viable form of punishment.

According to estimates from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, legalized beatings occur nearly 200,000 times a year. However, studies show that they lower student interest and performance, and send a mixed message to children when we expel them for engaging in the very same violence we allow adults. Additionally, legalized beatings establish a pattern of violence that children take into adulthood, where violence against adults is finally illegal but the pattern has already been set.

Currently, America is the only country in the industrialized world that still allows corporal punishment. Please help us get current with the rest of the industrialized world. A 2005 national poll conducted by SurveyUSA found that only 23% of Americans support legalized beatings in school. The national majority stands in opposition to legalized beatings.

We request that you co-sponsor HR 3027 to end violence in schools in our remaining 19 states. Your voters demand your vote to eradicate violence. Our children, and our future, depend on it.

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Sincerely,

[Your name]