The mindset of our legislators, most of whom are lawyers and thus have a vested interest in lots of laws, is that any and every situation can be dealt with by laws and regulations. A very small minority of teachers were a little too enthusiastic in their use of CP – make a law banning it completely! A few parents chastised their children a little too hard – make a law rendering parental chastisement virtually impossible!
This legislative solution is a nonsense and in every aspect of life we are paying the penalty for it. What is needed is common sense – and it isn’t true that common sense isn’t very common. There’s still plenty of it around, but nobody is allowed to use it anymore.