Few issues have polarized the educational community so completely as the 1975 and 1977 decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court to allow corporal punishment in the schools. The symposium reported here was organized and conducted following the 1975 decision but prior to the 1977 one. Three papers in support and three papers against the ruling were read, after which the participants debated the matter. Finally, one pro and one con participant summed up the views for each side. The supporters of the ruling view corporal punishment as an effective deterrent to misbehavior, insist that it is a necessary tool for keeping order in the classroom, and see it as an alternative to permanent suspension. They admit that corporal punishment is occasionally misused, but point to the fact that other useful tools of a civilized society are also subject to misuse. The non-supporters of the ruling view corporal punishment as a type of legalized child abuse and are convinced that it compounds the teachers' problems by escalating anger in the child. They bolster their position by pointing out instances of abuse that have occurred in the past. Both groups agree that effective alternatives to phsyical discipline, coupled with teachers more adequately trained to handle disciplinary problems in the classroom, would largely remove the need for the continued future use of corporal punishment. (Author)