The tales are endless, each one more bizarre than the one before. Yet what percent of the total instances of corporal punishment they represent is anybody's guess. We think of them as a tip of the iceberg phenomenon, but tip of the volcano might be a better simile. The rolling fury beneath this turbulent outpouring is reflected in our juvenile delinquency statistics, in the violence and vandalism that is wracking our schools, and in the enormous dissatisfaction with schools that is evident on every hand. Some of the newspaper stories are distributed by wire services and are used by subscribing newspapers which choose to run them.
Some incidents appear and reappear in succeeding editions, often with embellishments and sequels.
The most popular stories are those that permit the punning propensities of the headline writer to move into high gear. I have also made the observation that when the circulation is small, joking takes precedence over seriousness. In other words, rural America still treats spanking as scatological humor. That is one reason why I doubt the findings of those who see school paddling as primarily a racist phenomenon. Letters to the editor on this subject split about fifty-fifty.