Political Chatter: When paddling students, only Texas and Mississippi beat Alabama

Paddling students is still legal and practiced in 19 states. Alabama is one of them.

Beating kids in school.

It's just one of those things that makes sense to Alabamians, even though outsiders think it's straight-up insane -- like letting children ride in the back of pickup trucks.

Corporal punishment -- or in more plain language, paddling unruly kids in school -- is still legal and practiced in 19 states, and of course Alabama is one of them.

Most of those 19 states are in the South. Studies have found that there is a correlation between mostly-black schools and incidents of corporal punishment, and students with disabilities are more likely to be paddled than those without.

Mississippi is the national leader when it comes to paddling students, with 41, 128 beatings in the 2009-10 school year.

And Alabama?

We came in third, behind Texas.

Alabama educators administered 29,957 beatings during the 2009-2010 school year.

You can read all the stats on Vox.com, here.

Corporal punishment has been sanctioned in 1977 by the United States Supreme Court, although it has declined dramatically since then and 26 states have outlawed it entirely.

In other business ...

Look out, Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh! China is joining the Obama War on Coal.

Every month since 1983, porn magnate Larry Flynt has mailed a copy of Hustler to every member of the United State Congress.

And a week after he showed Kathleen Sebelius, President Barack Obama is feeling bullish over Obamacare.

Political Chatter is a weekday round-up of fun and interesting national political news and analysis.

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.