When was the last time you were spanked? Age 4? Age 5? If you were really bad, age 9?

For most of us, corporal punishment stopped about the time we stopped watching Sesame Street. But Oxford High School in Oxford, Ala. is bringing back the pain, offering a choice of paddling or suspension to students for certain rule violations.

Those violations? Allegedly risqué prom dresses.

Are we serious here?

Corporal punishment (on 17-year-old high school seniors?!) is one issue. But this incident is illustrative of a far more disturbing trend — public high school administrators overstepping their duty to enforce student behavior.

Michael Brazeal

The first mission of any school is to educate. This cannot be done if the students are not kept safe, and this requires the measures taken by public schools to combat drugs, weapons, and violence involving students. The tragic suicide of a bullied Massachusetts teenager two weeks ago validated that educators’ tough policies to secure classroom environments are needed. But as British poet Samuel Johnson said, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” The drive by public schools to keep their students safe is a slippery slope, and many have tumbled already.

Look no further than Morgan County Middle School, barely 30 minutes from Athens. Eli Mohone, a seventh grader, was handcuffed and held at a Morgan County youth detention facility in October after a knife was discovered in his book bag.

Knives in school? That’s terrible — especially in a world with frequent educational violence. The thing is, Mohone didn’t bring the knife with intent to injure. He didn’t even know it was in his bag. His mother put it there and forgot about it. He was acting responsibly, voluntarily bringing the knife to the principal’s office. For that, he was kicked out of school and sent to jail without a hearing.

Many school districts have zero tolerance weapons or drugs policies. And like Morgan County, these policies sometimes have zero tolerance for common sense. Cases similar to Mohone’s have occurred nationwide. The intentions of school officials are noble. But the desire to do things absolutely-always-with-no-exceptions “by the book,” such as in this case, is detrimental to students.

Fortunately, Georgia State Senator Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur), introduced a bill to prevent similar occurrences in the future — it passed the state Senate unanimously and is on the House docket. But the scary thing is that this is even an issue.

Even scarier are steps public schools are taking to regulate behavior outside the schoolhouse door. In February, I wrote a column about a federal court in Florida giving permission to a high school student to sue her principal after being suspended for a non-threatening Facebook group. I noted how the decision was a win for free speech.

Unfortunately, the decision hasn’t seemed to have much of an effect outside of Florida. A suburban Chicago high school student was suspended for criticizing a teacher online a week after the decision, with legal action pending. The school system, like Florida’s, claims the page was disruptive. An earlier Fort Wayne, Ind., case had Churubusco High School punishing students for racy pictures on MySpace, again citing disruption.

Too many public schools are taking a view much too broad of what “disruptive” means. Yes, schools have a right — a need — to preserve a safe learning environment. That includes dishing out consequences for those who disrupt that environment.

But using the Internet to snoop on students clearly is over the line. Schools are taking on matters that would be better left to parents and are hamstrung by rigid, punish first, learn the story later-type policies.

Ultimately, American public education needs to take a collective chill pill. They must realize that safety and common sense can go hand-in-hand.

They need to learn that punishing troublemakers doesn’t mean looking for trouble. Learn those lessons, and everyone — teachers, students and parents — will be better off for it.

— Michael Brazeal is a senior from Marietta majoring in newspapers and real estate