Spare the Kids

February 1, 2017

Spare the rod, spoil the child? Journalist and child advocate Patton (That Mean Old Yesterday) examines the Old Testament proverb in the prism of U.S. history, spanning the era of slavery to the current Black Lives Matter movement. Focusing on the controversy within and without the black community about the corporal punishment of black children, Patton argues against whipping as an extension of a slave mentality fostered under the master's lash and extended in segregationist Southern schools' paddling. She garners testimony from black clergy, child psychologists, physicians, prosecutors, and police as evidence of "whupping's" harm. The author presses readers with cold, hard truths and ugly realities about the interconnected violence American children face in their homes, in their schools, in the streets, and from their parents. The personal and generational damage Patton lays bare indicts a fearful culture of violence and implicates not only conceptions of good parenting among African Americans but among Americans at large. VERDICT This is a must-read for all concerned about the welfare of children, about America's future, and about the U.S. Constitution's pledge of "We the people" to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.--Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe

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