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.