Whereas the use of corporal punishment to discipline children was something of a rarity in Native cultures, among whites the old maxim “spare the rod and spoil the child” was widely embraced as an effective, even necessary, tool in childrearing. It is not surprising, then, that Indian children as well as their parents viewed spanking and strapping as one of the most egregious features of boarding school policy, or that white authorities viewed corporal punishment as an essential element in their efforts to enforce compliance with the regimen of rules governing boarding schools—
