The cynical, systemic avoidance of responsibility with regard to the welfare of children in the United States is nowhere better illustrated than in the practice of corporal punishment in schools.

• The U.S. Department of Education says school corporal punishment is a matter for the states to decide.
• In the states that permit corporal punishment, departments of education say it's a matter for local school districts to decide.
• School districts where paddling is practiced say their policy reflects the will of the community expressed through their elected school boards.
• Mandated reporting laws that require school authorities, among others, to report suspected child abuse are selectively ignored when suspected perpetrators happen to be school teachers. The standard justification for inaction given by law enforcement is: 'There was no criminal intent.'

When schoolchildren are injured by violent punishments, no one seems to have standing to address the problem. Instead, the parties engage in a well-practiced ritual of circular buck-passing which leaves the schools essentially a law unto themselves and children unprotected.

A rarely seen view of what results from this state of affairs.